Hacker News Reader

Yes, current society and academia have it all wrong. Math is both celebrated and scorned. It's somehow the most applicable thing in the world and yet largely unemployable. People can't imagine a mathematician can do anything, but know you need it to do most everything.

View on HN

This is an astute observation.

The world leaders during WW2 recognized this - basically, when critical work needed to be done, they knew whom they needed and roped in a large number of the leading "dreamers/thinkers" of the time to work on the Manhattan Project.

The thing that saddens me is that it is often conflict and animosity that awaken this recognition - other examples include the Cold War, artillery calculations in WW1, etc.

To be fair most of the scientists on the Manhattan project were physicists.

> largely unemployable

FWIW, the math major graduates at the college where I teach, to my knowledge, have never had serious trouble getting employment.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com