> Who needs pure math research? Every single human being who banks over the Internet, which, given how banks work now, is every single human being who has fund

> Who needs pure math research? Every single human being who banks over the Internet, which, given how banks work now, is every single human being who has funds in a modern money economy. I know, I know, but it's my favorite example: Number theory was held up as the exemplar of math-for-math's-sake pure mathematics until suddenly it was the foundation of cryptography. In the words of Chuck Berry, "Goes to show you never can tell."