It is suggested if a computer reaches a certain order of numbers that it becomes self aware and at that moment it crashes. Similarly, when both Max and his former teacher reach the same number on their own, they both die. Max by suicide and his teacher by stroke. The computer and two men appear to find some answer to life and all subsequently die.
Sunday, February 1, 2015
Pi & Consciousness
In the film Pi, Max, the protagonist, makes him self continually sick in the pursuit of a profound truth within the number pi. Max regularly reassures himself of his belief that numbers are everywhere and can explain everything in nature. His way of assurance is similar to Descartes' way of questioning all that he perceives to be true. Descartes insists that all of his senses must be questioned. In a similar way, Max insists that all of his questions can be answered mathematically. This reassurance justifies his constant search for a sequence that explains life. His main search is within Judaism and the stock market.
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I think that this cause and effect relationship between discovering the answer only right before death says a lot about the nature of the "truth" that Max is looking for. It seems to me that this answer is either unfathomable or useless to the living (maybe both). It's just something that apparently is not meant to be known, yet due to man's curious nature the answer can seduce us anyway creating an awful kind of tragic flaw in Max (as well ole Hugh in The Prestige). Poor guys.
ReplyDeleteI believe that wat ever Max was trying to discover could only be discovered through death. But once you die you cannot come back. So how will you remember what happened once you die? Death is a one in a life time experience that know one will ever be able to record on paper while living.
ReplyDeleteThe ultimate truth Max was reaching for drove him mad. It was a sacred truth of how the world works. Whenever he finally reached it I don't think he committed suicide. I think he realized the only way to be happy was to cripple himself intellectually so that he could not be so maddened by the search and attempting the comprehension.
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