25 “how they see the world” memes that got progressively unhinged

A new meme popped off on X after one user posted an image representing “how a mathematician sees the world.” In true form, the rest of the platform jumped to alter the original to show how other types of people see the world, turning a previously kind of cool but not really remarkable post into a viral trend.

How the “how a mathematician sees the world” meme started

Engineer and popular X user @oprydai kicked this off over the weekend, posting the catalyst for the new meme on Saturday and gaining over 81.2 million views in just a few days. He took an everyday photo from the view at the top of a mall escalator and highlighted the major lines and shapes in blue with math formulas we mere writers cannot possibly comprehend.

That’s probably not how mathematicians see the world all the time unless they took something gnarly before they left the house. However, it was neat enough to catch attention. Then someone made the first variant, and X caught on quick.

Images using the same blue lines and text, or badly Photoshopped representations of other fields, began to pop up and spread. First it was other types of mathematicians, then other kinds of scientists, then different professionals joined in, then gamers, and pretty soon things were getting weird.

If you prefer not to get into the weeds, we gathered some good ones for you.

25 “how they see the world” memes

1. An Australian mathematician

2. A writer

3. A mathematician who is also a dog

4. A Mario Kart player

5. A linguist

6. A wife guy

7. A guy taking Benadryl

8. This person

9. A student

10. A not-for-kids linguist

11. A biologist

12. A molecular biologist

13. A marine biologist

14. A cinephile

15. A graphic designer

16. A physicist

17. A music producer

18. An etymologist

19. A 3D artist

20. A Metroid Prime player

21. A computer scientist

22. A birder

23. A League of Legends player

24. A knight

25. A Philippine drama series writer