Hacker Cinema
Proof
2005 · Film · 100 min
Directed by John Madden
Catherine is a woman in her late twenties who is strongly devoted to her father, Robert, a brilliant and well-known mathematician whose grip on reality is beginning to slip away. As Robert descends into madness, Catherine begins to wonder if she may have inherited her father's mental illness along with his mathematical genius.
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8 comments on Hacker News
"It's not your fault"
(also the graph theory examples in the beginning are really simple. Good Will Hunting is not really great as a math movie. I preferred 'Proof' with Paltrow, Hopkins, etc)
Was the movie you remember maybe "Proof"?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proof_(2005_film)
PS: it had a mathematician with a band that did an imaginary number in it.
This sounds oddly similar to the movie Proof from 2005.
I used to discuss these kind of theories online. Or, rather, these kind of people would visit the forums/boards I used to visit, and then present their "great ground shaking theories". As the author here states, most of these theories had fundamental flaws. New particles named after themselves that didn't explain anything the model of physics does today. Or the theories weren't consistent with observations, for instance they failed to explain how pushing one object of 1kg into another object would end up.
Most of these people were old, many engineers (edit: which the article agrees with) with a former basic knowledge of physics. They kinda reminds me of the old professor in the movie "Proof", that has lost grip on reality and invented his own "proofs". Or the movie "A beautiful mind" when he's on his worst. It's a bit sad, really.
There's also the math-themed band from the movie "Proof" that had a silent song they called "i" (their imaginary number).
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0377107/quotes?item=qt0392968
The first section of this article reminds of the film Proof.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0377107/
Meh:
2. Mathematics and Science as Art in Contemporary Theatre: "Playwrights such as Tom Stoppard, Rinne Groff, Michael Frayn, and others have effectively explored mathematical and scientific themes for artistic purposes. Through readings and exercises, and by conducting labs and staging scenes, this class will gain some first-hand insight into the complementary ways in which science and art aim to seek out their respective truths." [Middlebury]
4. Mathematics and Narrative: "Many literary works (Arcadia, Proof, and Uncle Petros and the Goldbach Conjecture) use mathematics as an integral part of their narrative. Movie and television narratives such as Good Will Hunting and Numb3rs are also mathematically based. Nonfiction works about mathematics and mathematical biographies like Chaos, Fermat's Enigma, and A Beautiful Mind provide further examples of the connection between mathematics and narrative. " [Vassar]
Warning: Highly unapologetic comment. :) Though, I don't mean to be rude, truly; I've processed the same thoughts and endured the same uncertainty. This was just what I finally realized.
So, everyone seems to be acknowledging the fact that your mind isn't as sharp as it was (maybe I missed a comment).
Thing is, it's simple. No, don't acknowledge it. Sure, there are hardened synapses, but to a large extent that's just an excuse for people to feel sorry for themselves. O_O
So basically, just get over the fact that you think your brain's not an sharp as it was. It's a load of crap. It's still all there, and you need to just overcome to emotional inhibitions that are getting in the way of you using it.
University is a pretty safe environment for exploring --as it should be; that's its purpose if nothing else. As a result, you're pretty well emotionally oblivious to the "what-if fears" of putting everything --all your mind and all your passion- into what you do. Perfect.
When you depart, a profoundly unseen transition takes place; you don't have that environment anymore. So you continue with the momentum you had for a while --couple months, 10 years- and then it's gone. You're learned a new environment that pulls into your mind before everything else a whole mess of things; the clichés of "only what's good enough" and "dreams are just dreams."
And then there's the "age 27 factor" as I've coined from the film Proof. (actually, go it is. It's appropriate.) :) Look back over old work and you think you realize that you'll never be able to do something that great again. Again, load of crap. Honestly, for myself, I'm typically looking back over old stuff and, while realizing the significant merit they held at the time and to the process of moving to where I am now, they're working in a highly limited fashion. What consistently happens is I let their singular weight become a symbol, a pristine concept for the knowledge I gained and I hold them so much more highly that what they actually are. On a personal level, that's fine. But to compare that symbol to actual work, no. Don't do it.
So here's my final thoughts on what it boils down to: Get over it. Your brain is still all there unless you've found little bits on your pillow. It's only a simple emotional inhibition that's preventing you from actually using your brain. Don't blame it on anything else. And finally, your old work wasn't that great. (ok, so maybe it was, but it's not nearly as great as you're holding it.)
That's it. :)