Leibniz's Dream and Dijkstra's nightmare

I was inspired to browse some of Edsger Dijkstra&rsquo;s essays today, and came across his speech, &ldquo;Under the spell of Leibniz&rsquo;s Dream&rdquo;. It&rsquo;s the sort of personal history I love to read, which gives one person&rsquo;s sense of the world over a period of change. One quote that immediately struck me was his view of his country&rsquo;s spirit after WWII: An important…