The Ascent... and Descent... of Man

Not particularly mathy... but classic words that ought never be forgotten:

“It's said that science will dehumanize people and turn them into numbers. That's false, tragically false. Look for yourself. This is the concentration camp and crematorium at Auschwitz. This is where people were turned into numbers. Into this pond were flushed the ashes of some four million people. And that was not done by gas. It was done by arrogance, it was done by dogma, it was done by ignorance. When people believe that they have absolute knowledge, with no test in reality, this is how they behave. This is what men do when they aspire to the knowledge of gods."

-- Jacob Bronowski, The Ascent of Man

Forever timely, because of "the itch for absolute knowledge and power":



....To end on a less somber note, I'll close with a different classic: Leonard Cohen as rendered by K.D. Lang at the 2010 winter Olympics: