A Beautiful Mind

Mathematicians won the war.

Mathematicians broke the Japanese codes...

...and built the A-bomb.

Mathematicians, like you.

The stated goal of the Soviets is global Communism.

In medicine or economics...

...in technology or space...

...battle lines are being drawn.

To triumph, we need results...

...publishable, applicable results.

Now who among you will be the next Morse?

The next Einstein?

Who among you will be the vanguard of democracy...

...freedom, and discovery?

Today, we bequeath America's future into your able hands.

Welcome to Princeton, gentlemen.

It's not enough Hansen won the Carnegie Scholarship.

No, he wants it all for himself.

It's the first time the Carnegie Prize has been split. Hansen's all bent.

He has his sights set on Wheeler Lab, MIT's military think-tank.

They're only taking one this year.

Hansen's used to being picked first.

Yeah, he's wasted on math.

He should be running for president.

There could be a mathematical explanation for how bad your tie is.

Thank you.

Neilson, symbol cryptography.

Neils here broke a Jap code. Helped rid the world of Fascism.

At least that's what he tells the girls, eh, Neils?

The name's Bender. Atomic physics.

- And you are? - Am I late?

- Yes, Mr. Sol. - Oh, good. Hi.

- Sol. Richard Sol. - The burden of genius.

- There he is. - So many supplicants, and so little time.

- Mr. Sol. - How are you, sir?

- Bender. - Nice to see you.

- Congratulations, Mr. Hansen. - Thank you.

I'll take another.

Excuse me?

Pardon me. I assumed you were the waiter.

- Play nice. - Nice is not Hansen's strong suit.

Honest mistake.

Well, Martin Hansen.

It is Martin, isn't it?

Why, yes, John, it is.

I imagine you're getting quite used to miscalculation.

I've read your preprints...

...both of them.

The one on Nazi ciphers...

...and the other one on nonlinear equations...

...and I am supremely confident that there is not a single seminal...

...or innovative idea in either one of them.

Enjoy your punch.

Gentlemen, meet John Nash...

...the mysterious West Virginia genius.

The other winner of the distinguished Carnegie Scholarship.

- Okay. - Yeah?

Of course.

Oh, Christ.

The prodigal roommate arrives.

Roommate?

Oh, God, no.

Did you know that having a hangover...

...is not having enough water in your body...

...to run your Krebs cycle?

Which is exactly what happens to you when you're dying of thirst.

So, dying of thirst...

...would probably feel...

...pretty much like the hangover that finally bloody kills you.

John Nash?

Hello.

Charles Herman.

Pleased to meet you.

All right! Well done!

Well, it's official. I'm almost human again.

Officer, I saw the driver who hit me. His name was Johnny Walker.

Whew.

Well, I got in last night in time for...

...English department cocktails.

Cock was mine...

...the tail belonged to a particularly lovely young thing with a passion for...

...D.H. Lawrence. You're not easily distracted, are you?

- I'm here to work. - Are you? Right.

I see. Crikey!

Is my roommate a dick?

Hmm?

Listen.

If we can't break the ice...

...how about we drown it?

So what's your story?

You the poor kid that never got to go to Exeter or Andover?

Despite my privileged upbringing, I'm well-balanced.

I have a chip on both shoulders.

Maybe you're just better with the old integers than you are with people.

My first grade teacher said I was born with two helpings of brain...

...but only half a helping of heart.

Wow! She sounds lovely!

The truth is that I...

I don't like people much.

And they don't much like me.

But why, with all your obvious wit and charm?

Seriously, John.

Mathematics...

Mathematics is never going to lead you to a higher truth.

And you know why?

Because it's boring. It's really boring.

You know, half these schoolboys are already published?

I cannot waste time with these classes and...

...these books.

Memorizing the weaker assumptions of lesser mortals!

I need to look through...

...to the governing dynamics.

Find a truly original idea.

That's the only way I'll ever distinguish myself.

- It's the only way that I'll ever... - Matter.

Yes.

- All right, who's next? - I've played enough go for today.

- Come on. - I hate this game.

Cowards, all of you!

None of you rise to meet my challenge?

Come on, Bender. Whoever wins, Sol does his laundry all semester.

- Does that seem unfair to anyone else? - Not at all.

- Look at him. - Nash!

Taking a reverse constitutional?

I'm hoping to extract an algorithm to define their movement.

Oh.

Psycho.

I thought you dropped out. You ever going to go to class or...

Classes will dull your mind.

Destroy the potential for authentic creativity.

Oh, I didn't know that.

Nash is going to stun us all with his genius.

Which is another way of saying he doesn't have the nerve to compete.

You scared?

Terrified. Mortified. Petrified.

Stupefied by you.

No starch.

Pressed and folded.

Let me ask you something, John.

Be my guest, Martin.

Bender and Sol here correctly completed Allen's proof of Peron’s conjectures.

Adequate work...

...without innovation.

- I'm flattered. You flattered? - Flattered.

And I've got two weapons briefs under security review by the DOD.

Derivative drivel.

But Nash achievements: zero.

I'm a patient man, Martin. Is there an actual question coming?

What if you never come up with your original idea?

How will it feel when I'm chosen for Wheeler...

...and you're not?

What if you lose?

You should not have won.

Hmm.

I had the first move, my play was perfect.

The hubris of the defeated.

The game is flawed.

Gentlemen, the great John Nash.

You've been in here for two days.

You know Hansen has just published another paper?

I can't even find a topic for my doctorate.

Well, on the bright side, you've invented window art.

This is a group playing touch football.

This is a cluster of pigeons fighting over breadcrumbs.

And this is a woman who is chasing a man who stole her purse.

John, you watched a mugging.

That's weird.

In competitive behavior, someone always loses.

Well, my niece knows that, John, and she's about this high.

See, if I could derive an equilibrium...

...where prevalence is a non-singular event...

...where nobody loses.

Imagine the effect that would have on conflict scenarios...

When did you last eat?

- When did you last eat? - Currency exchange?

You know, food.

You have no respect for cognitive reverie, you know?

Yes. But pizza...

Now, pizza I have enormous respect for.

And, of course, beer.

I have respect for beer.

I have respect for beer!

- Good evening, Neils. - Hey, Nash.

Who's winning? You or you?

- Good evening, Nash. - Hey, guys. Hey, Nash.

He's looking at you for sure.

Hey, Nash.

Neils is trying to get your attention.

- You're joking. - Oh, no.

- Go with God. - Come back a man.

- Fortune favors the brave. - Bombs away.

Gentlemen, might I remind you that my odds of success...

...dramatically improve with each attempt?

This is going to be classic.

Maybe you want to buy me a drink.

I don't know what I'm required to say...

...in order for you to have intercourse with me...

...but could we assume that I've said all that?

Essentially we're talking about fluid exchange, right?

So, could we just go straight to the sex?