I think I would’ve made a good scientist, even today where the focus is on math pseudo-IQ tests rather than deep thinking.

However, I am glad that the obsession with mathiness caused me to stay away as I would’ve not liked academia much — and that would’ve been the most likely default destination.

As E.O. Wilson knows, ideas rarely come from math. How most scientists actually generate ideas has little to nothing to do with the oddball math worship.

I am angry at my teachers to this day for telling me that math was all that matters, even if they were narrowly correct. Math hardly matters at all for real thinking, unless you are a mathematician.

I could’ve never passed any of the math classes in the STEM curriculum, so that was an effective hurdle keeping me out. But I still would’ve been a good — and perhaps great — scientist.