A collection of things
A collection of things
"Mathematicians, unlike other scientists, require no labatory equipment--a practice that reportedly began with Archimedes, who, after emerging from the bath and rubbing himself with olive oil, discovered the principles of geometry by using his fingernails to trace figues on his oily skin. A Japanese resteraunt, apparently, is as good a place as any to do mathematics. Mathemiticians need only peace of mind and, occasionaly, paper and pencil. 'That's the beauty of it,' Graham said. 'You can lie back, close your eyes, and work. Who knows what problem Paul is working on now.'"The Man Who Loved Only Numbers by Paul Hoffman
For some reason I'm on a math kick right now. Joey deVilla reccomended a book called "The Man Who Loved Only Numbers," the biography of Paul Erdos. I picked that up on Wed. along with a book on information theory. Today, I picked up A Beautiful Mind, the biography of John Nash, and The Man Who Knew Infinity, the biography of Srinivasa Ramanujan. It was also one of those days at work, so we ended up just blowing the day off and spent the last 2 hours or so before 5, watching the movie version of A Beautiful Mind.
There is something comforting in the lives of these men. Well, to be honest I haven't cracked the two books I bought today, but there was something comforting about Paul Erdos, and seeing Ron Howard's dipiction of John Nash. It wasn't the "movie quality" of the film that got my attention, instead it was the portrail of Nash himself. His mannerisms and the way he had trouble dealing with people. The way Paul Erdos forsaked everything that came between him and mathmatics. And I imagen what I will find in the other books as well. The knowledge that great men have just as much trouble with the world. That these great men were different and didn't fit in.
I've spent the last year or two jjust trying to come to terms with myself. Trying to accept myself for who I am. Not trying to hold myself up as some superior or putting myself down as some flawed existence. But, just acceptinng myself as someone who is different then the rest of the world. Who does not care about the things that others care about and who cares greatly about things that other people can't be bothered with.
I'm making great headway, and reading about these men is a great help. I just felt like writing that.
In one of my previous blogs I said, while reading a Rucker book on higher dimensions, that no drug could screw up your mind as much as high level mathmatics. I'm still standing by that statement.
One of the things that I'm doing as I read the book, is trying to "see" the descriptions in my head. From a fourth dimensional view of three dimensional space. To a fourth dimensional view of fourth dimensional space. It's a bit disoreinting. Just a few minutes ago I stopped reading and reached over for a smoke. My head swam with different perceptions for a moment as my mind was locked in trying to decipher the descriptions that Rudy was giving me in the book.
The most interesting bit though was last night. I love that period of time just before sleep when your rational mind just shuts off. That's when I experience some of my best... "concepts" so to speak. Not thoughts, not images, just jumbles of input that don't make any real sense, but still feel like some kind of sense. Like how things make sense in dreams, but don't in the real world. But, these things are occuring to me in the real world. If we do filter out the majority of the sensory input we receive, because we are unable to process it. It is these times that I allow these inputs to just wash over me.
Last night was the second time that I remember this happening. I don't remember what I was thinking about but suddenly there was this wash of extra perception that I could only interpret at the time, because of the book, as 4d information. To be honest the information is a little harrowing. It doesn't feel natural and puts me on edge.
In the end though I soon drifted off the sleep. At this point, I don't remember my dreams, but I think they were interesting. And this "4d" information mmight have shown up again. I'll have to run my head throuugh the ringer again before I go to bed tonight and see what happens.
Gotta love math!