This reminds me of a lot of what I see in grad school and academia. Something akin to what Tom Wolf talks about here[0] > I’ve always been a straight-A stude

This reminds me of a lot of what I see in grad school and academia. Something akin to what Tom Wolf talks about here[0] > I’ve always been a straight-A student. > if something was not written in a book I could not invent it unless it was a rather useless variation of a known theory. More annoyingly, I found it very hard to challenge the status-quo, to question what I had learned. I don't think this part is isolated to math, but there's a lot of acceptance for "because" being an answer. Being in an authoritative position and being challenged can be frustrating, but I think a lot of that frustration is self-generated. We stifle creativity when young and it should be no surprise that frequently when people challenge, they don't have the tools to do so (or be receptive) effectively. Truthfully, "I don't know"[1] still shuts down the conversation. But I think people themselves are uncomfortable with not knowing. I know I am! But that isn't a feeling of shame, it is a feeling that creates drive. [0] https://thomwolf.io/blog/scientific-ai.html https://thomwolf.io/blog/scientific-ai.html [1] Alternatively, variations like: "That's a good question, I don't know" or "Great question, but we don't have the tools to address that yet". The last one need not undermine your authority either. Truthfully, the common responses resulted in me becoming strongly anti-authoritarian. Which, also has greatly benefited my career as a researcher. So, thanks lol