It is just as foolish to complain that people are selfish and treacherous as it is to complain that the magnetic field does not increase unless the e… - John von Neumann

A large part of mathematics which becomes useful developed with absolutely no desire to be useful, and in a situation where nobody could possibly know in what area it would become useful; and there were no general indications that it ever would be so. By and large it is uniformly true in mathematics that there is a time lapse between a mathematical discovery and the moment when it is useful; and that this lapse of time can be anything from 30 to 100 years, in some cases even more; and that the whole system seems to function without any direction, without any reference to usefulness, and without any desire to do things which are useful.

The classical definitions of free competition all involve further postulates besides the greatness of that number. E.g., it is clear that if certain great groups of participants will — for any reason whatsoever — act together, then the great number of participants may not become effective; the decisive exchanges may take place directly between large “coalitions,”1 few in number, and not between individuals, many in number, acting independently. Our subsequent discussion of “games of strategy” will show that the role and size of “coalitions” is decisive throughout the entire subject.

When we talk mathematics, we may be discussing a secondary language built on the primary language truly used by the central nervous system.