Interesting anecdote from from the biography of Stanisław Ulam, a close friend of von Neumann. Von Neumann was apparently fascinated by the history of the ancie

Interesting anecdote from from the biography of Stanisław Ulam, a close friend of von Neumann. Von Neumann was apparently fascinated by the history of the ancient Greece which he learned by reading Thucydides and Herodotus. Once he was talking with Stan about the Siege of Melos[1] and how violent the human nature can be when driven by pride and ambition set to pursue a certain goal. That were late 30s and catastrophes like Lidice[2] and countless others on the soil which today are Poland and Belarus were soon to happen. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Melos https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Melos [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lidice_massacre https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lidice_massacre