Marvin Minsky vs Lou Reed

"You can't blame teachers for trying to make numbers interesting. But
-- let's face it -- numbers by themselves don't have much character.
That's why mathematicians like them so much! They find something
magical about things which have no interesting qualities at all. That
sounds like a paradox. Yet, when you think about it, that's exactly
why we can use numbers so many different ways! Why is it that we get
the same kind of result when we count different kinds of things --
whether we're counting flowers or trees or cars or dinosaurs? Why do
we always end up the same -- with a number? That's the magic of
arithmetic. It wipes away all fine details. It strips things of their
character. The qualities of what you count just disappear without a
trace. Programs do the opposite. They make things come to be, where
nothing ever was before. Some people find a new experience in this, a
feeling of freedom, a power to do anything you want. Not just a lot --
but anything. I don't mean like getting what you want by just wishing.
I don't mean like having a faster-than-light spaceship, or a time
machine. I mean like giving a child enough kindergarten-blocks to
build a full-sized city without ever running out of them. You still
have to decide what to do with the blocks. But there aren't any
outside obstacles. The only limits are the ones inside you." -- Marvin
Minsky, "Introduction to LogoWorks"

"I have made very big decision
I'm goin' to try to nullify my life
'Cause when the blood begins to flow
When it shoots up the dropper's neck
When I'm closing in on death

You can't help me not you guys
Or all you sweet girls with all your sweet talk
You can all go take a walk
And I guess I just don't know
And I guess I just don't know

I wish that I was born a thousand years ago
I wish that I'd sailed the darkened seas
On a great big clipper ship
Going from this land here to that
I put on a sailor's suit and cap

Away from the big city
Where a man cannot be free
Of all the evils of this town
And of himself and those around
Oh, and I guess I just don't know
Oh, and I guess I just don't know"

-- Lou Reed, "Heroin"