tedster - 6:46 am on Jul 3, 2008 (gmt 0)

patterns after all are but a subdivision of math.

True, but massive computing power is also setting the traditional world of math on its head.

For instance, the "four color theorem" has been proved only via automated computer work on a massive scale, and that proof has also be verified only through similar massive computation. It seems this proof cannot be made or checked "by hand", and many mathematicians are more than a bit disturbed by the implications of all that.