Wasn't Computer Modern created with input from Herman Zapf, and Matthew Carter among other titans of typography? I don't think Knuth just whipped it up in isolation without any feedback, so this whole "it looks like a font designed by an engineer" seems both incorrect and needlessly arrogant?
I don't think Carter had any input. There was some (minimal) input from Zapf, mostly with respect to the calligraphic capitals. Mostly, Knuth was trying to replicate the Monotype Modern. Some of the fonts like cmr17 are especially bad (the extrapolation of parameters to larger design sizes was not correct). That said, I do think that cmtt is a superior typeface for monospace typesetting.
