> It would be interesting to know what inspired him to write this. Maybe something equivalent to, e.g. modern string theory, which was pissing him off. Google

> It would be interesting to know what inspired him to write this. Maybe something equivalent to, e.g. modern string theory, which was pissing him off. Google found this in "Prisoner's Dilemma/John Von Neumann, Game Theory and the Puzzle of the Bomb" by William Poundstone (page 29): "As the same time he insists that the best mathematics is usually inspired by practical problems. This can be read as a defense of game theory (among other things) to those fellow mathematicians who deprecated it as an applied field." So perhaps more out of an irritation with condescending/dismissive pure mathematicians than an irritation with overly abstract theories per se. Hopefully someone who knows more about Von Neumann will stumble along these posts and provide more insight.