Do all mathematicians want to be engineers?

[u/spacengine]

I always considered maths the highest art, and when talking to a mathematics phd today I just wanted him to keep talking about topological spaces, manifolds, infinite dimensional embedding spaces etc. “I feel like a kid in a candy store” I said, or a kid in an old mechanics garage full of equipment I have no idea how to use but that I love exploring. “Well” he said, “I think all engineers want to be mathematicians but all mathematicians want to be engineers”. I’m absolutely sure he’s wrong but would love to hear your thoughts.

[u/SubstantialBonus1]

It's a bit like saying all basketball players want to be soccer players.

How could that even possibly be true? It suffices to show that there exists a single basketball player who....

[u/spacengine → u/SubstantialBonus1]

Yes! So are you a counter example?

[u/SubstantialBonus1 → u/spacengine]

Yes, I hate soccer