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Isn't the difference that you can do practical stuff with maths, but not really with literature and art (except, granted, create more literature and art, which
by Tichy 14y ago
Isn't the difference that you can do practical stuff with maths, but not really with literature and art (except, granted, create more literature and art, which might be the only jobs left in the future)?
Perhaps knowing maths is a bit like having dirty fingernails from doing manual labor. A certain class of people is proud of not having to do manual labor, and hence they take pride in their clean and long fingernails. Others will despise them and value "real work" higher.
- _delirium 14y agoAh, but pure mathematicians see themselves as having the clean fingernails, studying the mysteries of the cosmos unsullied by practical application. :)
- derleth 14y ago> Perhaps knowing maths is a bit like having dirty fingernails from doing manual labor. Never tell this to someone who pursues pure mathematics. It's so absolutely opposite their whole mindset that math should focus on anything other than the beauty of mathematics that comparing it to manual labor may well make their heads explode.
- brazzy 14y agoInteresting sidenote: in Germany, the camps are subtly different: Geisteswissenschaften - "mind sciences" vs. Naturwissenschaften - "nature sciences". And mathematics belongs to the former (although most people are probably not aware of that and the same attitude criticised by TFA is quite common).