I Don't Seek Power And

Science Would Be Ruined If (like Sports) It Were To Put Competition Above Everything Else, And If It Were To Clarify The Rules Of Competition By Withdrawing Entirely Into Narrowly Defined Specialties. The Rare Scholars Who Are Nomads-by-choice Are Essential To The Intellectual Welfare Of The Settled Disciplines.

The Extraordinary Fact Is That The First Idea I Had Which Motivated Me, That Worked, Is Conjecture, A Mathematical Idea Which May Or May Not Be True. And That Idea Is Still Unproven. It Is The Foundation, What Started Me And What Everybody Failed To **** Prove Has So Far Defeated The Greatest Efforts By Experts To Be Proven.

The Theory Of Probability Is The Only Mathematical Tool Available To Help Map The Unknown And The Uncontrollable. It Is Fortunate That This Tool, While Tricky, Is Extraordinarily Powerful And Convenient.

I've Been A Professor Of Mathematics At Harvard And At Yale. At Yale For A Long Time. But I'm Not A Mathematician Only. I'm A Professor Of Physics, Of Economics, A Long List. Each Element Of This List Is Normal. The Combination Of These Elements Is Very Rare At Best.

My Fate Has Been That What I Undertook Was Fully Understood Only After The Fact.