“Imagine if you
suddenly learned that the people, the places, the moments, most important to
you were not gone, not dead, but worse had never been. What kind of hell would
that be?” –Dr. Rosen
John Nash was an
illustrious mathematician known to be odd and antisocial. Despite his ingenious
mind, he suffered from paranoid schizophrenia, and the images, people, places, and
scenarios he saw, all created a distorted version of reality. During his delusional
episodes, John imagined Parcher, his “supervisor”, who set him on a highly
confidential mission to prevent a Soviet attack. Parcher made John’s paranoia and
hallucinations increase and he often became violent and detached from society.
While John Nash was never intentionally violent towards others, some
schizophrenics over history have become extremely remorseless and brutal. One
example is Ed Gien, who took corpses from graveyards to create trophies and
murdered two women. He is known for being a sexual psychopath and is one of the
most well-known murderers in the world. Although there is a great difference
between the notorious Plainfield Ghoul Ed Gien and John Nash, they both had schizophrenia.
John Nash’s
madness was also covered by the stress of his job and his unusual personality. “I would not dare to say that there is a
direct relation between mathematics and madness, but there is no doubt that
great mathematicians suffer from maniacal characteristics, delirium and symptoms
of schizophrenia.” (Nash) Overall, John Nash was an innovative mathematician
who suffered from paranoid schizophrenia but overcame it. Despite his
condition, he is one of the most renowned thinkers who had a great impact on
modern day economics and mathematics.
No comments:
Post a Comment