Review - A Beautiful Mind
Sep. 12th, 2005 02:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jackI haven't much to say, but I finally saw this and somehow feel I'm supposed to have a strong opinion on this film because I was a mathematician and am a film-pedant.
* It makes no claim to represent Nash's life accurately. *shrug* I didn't really expect it to, and I didn't know anything about it before anyway, so this didn't bother me that much. I got the impression it was correct in extremely general outline (good mathematician, mental problems, eventually learns to work with them, aspired to fields medal, won nobel prize).
* The maths shown is pure window dressing. It is just about maths and that's all you can say. Again, I expected this. I'm somewhat annoyed because you feel you might as well get someone to provide something broadly appropriate but otoh it wasn't plot critical, so it doesn't really matter.
* "If all the blokes hit on the blond none get her so none should" isn't a good example of a Nash equilibrium at all, though it's a reasonable example of a prisoner's dilemma. *Except* this was a *group* of men interacting constantly, so they can easily co-operate throughout and don't have to choose and stick to an initial strategy at all.
* The idea of ignoring the illness spoke to me though. It was very tragic, very brave, supposedly reasonably related to what he actually did, and somehow a very mathematicians approach. He lived without his drugs because he couldn't concentrate on his work or personal life with them, and kept asking people he knew if they could see new people who spoke to him, and ignored his halucinations including old friends.
* It makes no claim to represent Nash's life accurately. *shrug* I didn't really expect it to, and I didn't know anything about it before anyway, so this didn't bother me that much. I got the impression it was correct in extremely general outline (good mathematician, mental problems, eventually learns to work with them, aspired to fields medal, won nobel prize).
* The maths shown is pure window dressing. It is just about maths and that's all you can say. Again, I expected this. I'm somewhat annoyed because you feel you might as well get someone to provide something broadly appropriate but otoh it wasn't plot critical, so it doesn't really matter.
* "If all the blokes hit on the blond none get her so none should" isn't a good example of a Nash equilibrium at all, though it's a reasonable example of a prisoner's dilemma. *Except* this was a *group* of men interacting constantly, so they can easily co-operate throughout and don't have to choose and stick to an initial strategy at all.
* The idea of ignoring the illness spoke to me though. It was very tragic, very brave, supposedly reasonably related to what he actually did, and somehow a very mathematicians approach. He lived without his drugs because he couldn't concentrate on his work or personal life with them, and kept asking people he knew if they could see new people who spoke to him, and ignored his halucinations including old friends.
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Date: 2005-09-12 01:57 pm (UTC)Was that an intentional pun?
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Date: 2005-09-12 02:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-12 01:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-12 02:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-12 02:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-12 02:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-12 03:39 pm (UTC)goodbad as Risa!*makes spooky faces to go with the spooky noises*
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Date: 2005-09-12 03:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-12 05:15 pm (UTC)