The idea that calculus was some sort of side project for Newton both diminishes the level of focused effort he put into it, and ignores the contributions of Leibniz and the many other mathematicians whose work was known and incorporated by Newton and Leibniz.
If we just open up the idea of "tool" wide enough, everything becomes a tool. Writing a book isn't actually a goal, it's just a tool for acquiring money and fame. Calculating the orbit of planets was just a tool for Newton to establish social credit and historical significance. Agriculture is just a tool for eating, but eating is just a tool for living, but living is just a tool for procreating, but procreating is just a tool for perpetuating genes.
Why are we perpetuating genes? Really, no one knows. Solve that problem, I guess, and finally we'll have the one project enriquto can't easily dismiss as tool development.
If we just open up the idea of "tool" wide enough, everything becomes a tool. Writing a book isn't actually a goal, it's just a tool for acquiring money and fame. Calculating the orbit of planets was just a tool for Newton to establish social credit and historical significance. Agriculture is just a tool for eating, but eating is just a tool for living, but living is just a tool for procreating, but procreating is just a tool for perpetuating genes.
Why are we perpetuating genes? Really, no one knows. Solve that problem, I guess, and finally we'll have the one project enriquto can't easily dismiss as tool development.