As I read, I begin to share your blame. That what looked so promising in the 19th century really should have been immediately quashed in the 20th when computin

As I read, I begin to share your blame. That what looked so promising in the 19th century really should have been immediately quashed in the 20th when computing theory reared its head. The types of assertions Rota chides -- must have a closed form solution, composed strictly of non-infinite, occasionally wonderfully simple solutions, and asserting that they must exist through deductive route -- all hallmarks. I thought pure mathematics was over?