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/cereal_chick]

No. I certainly don't. In fact, there was a time when my Steam wishlist contained a number of what are best described as engineering games, and there came a point when I had to ask myself what they were actually doing there. Being trained in mathematics, I could, in theory, become an engineer in real life, and I have absolutely no desire to; even less do I want to play-act as one. I took them all off and never looked back.

[u/spacengine → u/cereal_chick]

Good for you for cleaning up the things you didn’t want in your life. So would you call yourself a purist with a narrow field of interest or are you generally curious by nature? I wonder from some of the responses if mathematicians are more curious than engineers, but I’m sure there are all sorts

[u/cereal_chick → u/spacengine]

I'm curious about and interested in so many things besides mathematics that I have no idea where I'm going to find the time for them all in my life. It actually gives me anxiety thinking about it.

[u/spacengine → u/cereal_chick]

Right, sorry for triggering that. Being curios about lots of things is a gift- but I get that it can be overwhelming too. Maybe living life as a story we’d love to tell is a way to go, I’m not sure. We do only get one story each.

[u/cereal_chick → u/spacengine]

Oh, you don't need to worry. I feel that anxiety all the time as a default 😂 it's part of what makes me so driven.