Hey so here is my review of Sylvia Nasar's "A Beautiful Mind". It was really good book and I wrote this up for a college essay too! So, if you want to comment on the review or critique my essay that would be awesome! Thanks!
How does one know what is real? How does one know what is not real? A book that has recently captivated my interest is A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nasar. This book focuses on the brilliant mathematician John Forbes Nash Jr. as he descends into insanity and then arises to recieve the prestigous Nobel Prize in Economics. I am not only inspired by this book, but this book also raises questions in science and in philosphy. It is this human trait, the concpt of reality, that captivates my interest and makes me seek to understand the hows and whys of reality and non-reality.
What makes John Forbes Nash Jr. inspirational and provocative in deciphering the concept of reality in the human person, is the fact that he was able to "cure" himself through the effort of the will. His disorder, paranoid schizophrenia, is incurable. The disorder is characterized by dilusions and hallucinations. The person who has this disorder feels as if they are caught up in some drama and are either the main mover in the drama or are unable to escape it. In the case of Nash, he believed that his mission was world peace and that it was his duty to start a revolution to attain it. He tried to revoke his US citizenship and get several nations, Switzerland, Luxembourg, France, to grant him refugee status. To Nash,
this all appeared real. He truly felt it was his duty to achieve world peace and he thought he could do this through revoking his citizenship. He tried to declare himself a "world citizen".
Despite his delusions, he was able to figure out a way to "cure" himself. I say that this is not a true cure, though. Nash was not able to get rid of his delusions and remain true to himself through medicines or treatments. It took his complete will to achieve this. He said no to his urges and said no to his passions. Nash ignored the "demons" that haunted him and the voices that urged him. This is obviously not easy. But, Nash was able to prove that he was able to do it.
The larger question that this begs is how this is possible. How is a man simply able to defy science and defy the doubts of others? How is he able to overcome an illness that is incurable and an illness that is sometimes greater than the best of us? But, an even larger than this question, that may never be answered, is how can one tell between what is real and what is not real?
How does one know what is real? How are we able to distinguish between what is truly there and what is not there? How do we even know that we exist? Descartes says that by our very thoughts, we know this. He says, "I think therefore I am." He is not alone in pondering one of the largest questions of the universe. Some skeptics say that nothing except they alone exist. They view the world as some imaginary universe. They echo the questions posed in Christopher Nolan's Inception. They think that we are merely sleeping and only when we awake, are we are able to see what is truly real. These thoughts and views intrigue me. This is the another reason for the perception of reality being an interest to me.
The fact that the human brain is able to conjure up an entire false world is
something that also captivates my interest. How is it that Nash could live in an entirely different world? How is it that Nash's brain was able to convince him that this world was real? The brain is fascinating in itself for this reason. His organ, his brain, was able to make a fantasy world with him as the central player. Not much is known about the brain and its capabilities. If this complex organ is able to create a convincing fantasy world, what else can it do? What could be achieved by being able to fully use the brain?
Through the experience of John Forbes Nash Jr. in the book, A Beautiful Mind, my interest in a human's perception of reality is captivated. As I start to ponder the false world that his brain created, I start to ponder the even greater question.
How are we able to distinguish between the false world and the real world?
Through this book describing the amazing recovery of an individual suffering from a debilitating disease, an interest in this human trait has grown.
Thanks for reading!
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