Biochemical pattern-recognition machines
To me … mathematical experience goes to the heart of what it means to be human. And I’ll go even further and say that mathematics, this art of abstract pattern-making—even more than storytelling, painting, or music—is our most quintessentially human art form. This is what our brains do, whether we like it or not. We are biochemical pattern-recognition machines and mathematics is nothing less than the distilled essence of who we are.