Was the reason that Computers were invented to solve a philosophical question about the foundations of mathematics?
Just an extended comment, for those who didn't notice that "This guy" in the question is not the author of the linked blog, but refers to Gregory Chaitin.

The sentence is from the lecture: A Century of Controversy over the Foundations of Mathematics; the transcription can be found here.

It seems interesting (I'm going to read it now)!


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Okay, I'd like to talk about some crazy stuff. The general idea is that sometimes ideas are very powerful. I'd like to talk about theory, about the computer as a concept, a philosophical concept.

We all know that the computer is a very practical thing out there in the real world! It pays for a lot of our salaries, right? But what people don't remember as much is that really---I'm going to exaggerate, but I'll say it---the computer was invented in order to help to clarify a question about the foundations of mathematics, a philosophical question about the foundations of mathematics.

Now that sounds absurd, but there's some truth in it. There are actually lots of threads that led to the computer, to computer technology, which come from mathematical logic and from philosophical questions about the limits and the power of mathematics....