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[symbolicsorcery]

So what are you doing now ?  What great non-corrupt cultures and institutions are you enjoying ?

I would love to share with you but you don't seem interested.  Judging from your last posts it looks like you're trying to find an opportunity to lambast me.
However maybe I'm projecting so maybe I'll do a post on it.

[sciencephd]

I would guess IT.

[symbolicsorcery]

I would guess IT.

Well, not quite.  I've been earning a living as a software engineer.  To me this is work, though, and working for a corporation is not fun.  Actually, I meditated on the word CORPORATION, and upon taking it apart we have CORPOR and ATION.  CORPOR, or CORPO, or CORPSE means dead body.  ATION means process of becoming.  So what we get is that a corporation is an entity which turns things into dead bodies.  That's how you'd feel after working at one for just a year.

So how do we find right livelyhood and maintain our integrity?  This is not an easy answer.  In other cultures, people like me would become spiritual teachers, shamans, guides, and seers.  Our culture has no institutions to support this type of person, because we see no need for it.  Well, there is the Catholic Priesthood, but I don't need to start raving about more corruption.

It's not appropriate to share my personal vision, but I hope you can appreciate that there are people working with the pure light of truth, working to bring man closer to God, no matter how difficult, no matter how painful, or no matter how fearful.

[sciencephd]

In other cultures, people like me would become spiritual teachers, shamans, guides, and seers. 

Really ? 

[egilson]

In other cultures, people like me would become spiritual teachers, shamans, guides, and seers. 

Really ? 

Yep. In ours they just end up living in shacks in Montana.

[offthemarket]

I think Kazinski has a better grasp on things, though.

[sciencephd]

I would guess IT.

Well, not quite.  I've been earning a living as a software engineer.  To me this is work, though, and working for a corporation is not fun. 

So it's hard to see what you've gained here...you could have just stuck with the PhD in math.

[spectacle]

Was she worried she would be seen as a bad teacher if my proofs had any mistakes?  Or was it simply bad etiquette to go to the higher-ups without consulting first?  I strongly suspect the former and not the latter.

Nope - you completely broke protocol.  My advisor would have my head on a stake if I did something this moronic.  And with good reason.

Your philosophizing is delightful, though.  Please do continue. 

[symbolicsorcery]

I would guess IT.

Well, not quite.  I've been earning a living as a software engineer.  To me this is work, though, and working for a corporation is not fun. 

So it's hard to see what you've gained here...you could have just stuck with the PhD in math.

True, I wanted to point that out.  There were many other reasons why I left.  I guess I quit too fast without thinking too much about what I wanted to do.  Since I had done computer science in undergrad, it was the first obvious alternative.  I've only come to know the truth about myself in the mean time, through much meditation and introspective thinking.

I'm not going to continue working in software.  I still love math.  I didn't realize until about a week ago that you can still teach math at the college level without a PhD.  That's why I came to this site.  I only decided to write my story after reading all the other posts from people who weren't sure if they wanted to continue.

Spreading truth is usually either preaching to the choir or else preaching to the ignorant who don't want to know.  How do we spread the truth in the greatest possible way?  By stealth.  Being a math teacher gives you the opportunity to teach people how to think, not what to think.  Giving people the gift of how to think makes them more receptive to truth in the future.

But that doesn't mean you teach classes then come home and live like everybody else.  You come home and work on other avenues of spreading the truth-- the internet, talk radio, etc.  When life becomes truth, truth becomes alive.

[symbolicsorcery]

Was she worried she would be seen as a bad teacher if my proofs had any mistakes?  Or was it simply bad etiquette to go to the higher-ups without consulting first?  I strongly suspect the former and not the latter.

Nope - you completely broke protocol.  My advisor would have my head on a stake if I did something this moronic.  And with good reason.

Your philosophizing is delightful, though.  Please do continue. 

I wish I still had that email from my advisor I'd love to post it.

I'm really bad with the whole "unwritten rule" thing so thanks for letting me not overlook that.

[hollow_man]

This thread needs some Office Space references. I can't think of a perfect one, but here's one anyway:

Peter Gibbons: Our high school guidance counselor used to ask us what you'd do if you had a million dollars and you didn't have to work. And invariably what you'd say was supposed to be your career. So, if you wanted to fix old cars then you're supposed to be an auto mechanic.

Samir: So what did you say?

PG: I never had an answer. I guess that's why I'm working at Initech.

Michael Bolton: No, you're working at Initech because that question is bulls*** to begin with. If everyone listened to her, there'd be no janitors, because no one would clean s*** up if they had a million dollars.

S: You know what I would do if I had a million dollars? I would invest half of it in low risk mutual funds and then take the other half over to my friend Asadulah who works in securities...

MB: Samir, you're missing the point.

[sciencephd]

So academia is corrupt, but now your actually want to go back to it ?

[hollow_man]

But that doesn't mean you teach classes then come home and live like everybody else.  You come home and work on other avenues of spreading the truth-- the internet, talk radio, etc.  When life becomes truth, truth becomes alive.

Please tell me you're a sock puppet and you're putting us on.

Do mathematicians really talk/write like this?

[daniel_von_flanagan]

I would guess IT.

Well, not quite.  I've been earning a living as a software engineer.  To me this is work, though, and working for a corporation is not fun. 

So it's hard to see what you've gained here...you could have just stuck with the PhD in math.

It didn't look like he was going to make it.  His plaint is rather typical of students who drop out of mathematics programs.  They usually blame others, or claim it was intentional for one reason or another.  This is really common in mathematics. 

There are peer-reviewed outlets for elegant new proofs of known theorems; had he really done what he claims, he would have published his proofs in such journals.  Unpublished proofs are indistinguishable from fantasy.

Ted Kaczynski, for all his sociopathy, did work that passed external review (8 publications in solid journals) and was without question a very talented mathematician.  - DvF

[sciencephd]

This doesn't make much sense, because if you are as brilliant as you say, and this was recognized in your department, then they would probably accept you back into the program.