Understanding is a lot like sex.
Oppenheimer Finding out what's true is a central passion of human activity. It's a question that dominates the stage and the dinner table, the classroom and the courtroom, the scientific laboratory and the spiritual retreat. And yet, with the explosion of information reverberating in our brains, it becomes harder and harder to hear the clear ring of truth through the competing facts and philosophies. As it turns out, mathematics offers a singular set of tools for seeing truth. Even if people are aware that such tools exist, they don't know how to apply the tools to things they care about.