One of the things I feel is important about mathematicians' careers in general is their healthy skepticism of misapplying their work where it can only model an idealized version of real phenomena. I'd caution against encouraging the purest mathematicians to abandon this principle during these times — there are plenty of physicists and applied mathematicians who can fill the role of experimenting with theoretical application to great effect.
For this reason, perhaps rather than claiming mathematicians should "take their training weights off," it'd be better... (read more)
Upliftingly cheery take as always Alex