I’ve been reflecting a lot lately on why I am more drawn to pure math over applied fields or other sciences. Sometimes, I wonder if my love for pure math is actually a form of escapism, like I could just get lost in my fascination of it, and consequently not think about the world around me.
On the other hand, maybe it’s not that deep, and I just find pure math to be more interesting due to the fact that humanity has discovered structures, patterns, and other things that exist entirely independent of our physical universe, and people use the theorems from pure math to apply in the real world and not vice versa.
Does anyone else grapple with this? Do you view your studies or work as a retreat from reality, or is it just where your natural curiosity lies?