tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21699046.post-73193070692674294972007-10-06T13:52:00.000+01:002007-10-06T14:34:52.254+01:00<center><object height="350" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/R7ZW8J0faic"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/R7ZW8J0faic" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="350" width="425"></embed></object></center>I cobbled together this clip from two films that I watched in the same week. The first part is a snippet from a BBC documentary called 'Dangerous Knowledge', about the work and fate of four very important scientists. From the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/features/dangerous-knowledge.shtml">BBC website</a>:<br /><blockquote>In this one-off documentary, David Malone looks at four brilliant mathematicians - Georg Cantor, Ludwig Boltzmann, Kurt Gödel and Alan Turing - whose genius has profoundly affected us, but which tragically drove them insane and eventually led to them all committing suicide.<br /></blockquote>I have already mentioned <a href="http://www.everythingispointless.com/search?q=Turing">Turing</a> on this blog before and I certainly recommend watching the <a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3503877302082311448">full documentary</a> to learn the other men's sad stories. I chose the extract that I did, because of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_Boltzmann">Ludwig Boltzmann's</a> identification with <a href="http://www.everythingispointless.com/search/label/darwin">Darwin</a>, and because I myself often wish to sit within a perfect unchanging moment...<br /><br />The second part of the clip is from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darren_Aronofsky">Darren Aronofsky's</a> film '<span style="font-size:180%;"><span class="mw-headline"><i><i>π</i></i></span></span>', about a <a href="http://www.everythingispointless.com/search/label/mathematics">mathematical</a> genius who attempts to discover patterns in the stock-market, but appears to stumble onto the name of <a href="http://www.everythingispointless.com/search/label/god">god</a>! Of course all very far-fetched, but it is the protagonists solution to his problem which I found most interesting. Instead of committing <a href="http://www.everythingispointless.com/search/label/suicide">suicide</a>, a drill to the head seemingly removes his mathematical ability, and with it the pain and misery of his <a href="http://www.everythingispointless.com/search/label/math%20angst">math-angst</a>.<br /><br />Anyway, I can't help but feel an affinity with all these characters, both real and imagined, even if their solutions seem a little drastic...Louiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15282045026892204345noreply@blogger.com