Computer science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes.
The question of whether computers can think is like the question of whether submarines can swim.
Too few people recognize that the high technology so celebrated today is essentially a mathematical technology.
When I came back from Munich, it was September, and I was Professor of Mathematics at the Eindhoven University of Technology. Later I learned that I had been the Department's third choice, after two numerical analysts had turned the invitation down; the decision to invite me had not been an easy one, on the one hand because I had not really studied mathematics, and on the other hand because of my sandals, my beard and my "arrogance" (whatever that may be).
