of itself, probably nothing. asking this question is somewhat like driving to your mother's house, looking out the window on the way and asking, "Why the hell

of itself, probably nothing. asking this question is somewhat like driving to your mother's house, looking out the window on the way and asking, "Why the hell am I on a freeway onramp? I didn't want to be here, I want to be at my mother's house!" academic discovery is a journey, building on top of the progress made by others along the way. not all points along that route have intrinsic value. public-key crypto has incredibly high real-world value. most of the things learnt by number theory researchers building up to RSA's discovery - not so much.