Economic department hosts John Nash's 'beautiful mind' for lecture
Jenni Gilbert
Current Events Editor
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A guest of the Economics Department for their annual McGee Lecture, Nash appeared at Vanderbilt with his wife, Alicia.
Winner of four Oscars at the 2001 Academy Awards in March, A Beautiful Mind immortalizes the life, work and struggles of Nash and his family. The film won three Academy Awards in addition to Best Picture, including one for Akiva Goldsman's screen adaptation a book by the same name.
The book A Beautiful Mind, written by Sylvia Nasar, follows the life of Nash more closely than does the film version. In the film, significant facts about Nash were altered for dramatic effect.
Technically, however, the film accurately depicts Nash's innovative thoughts in mathematics. His work in developing game theory won him the Nobel Prize for Economics in 1994.
Game theory, or the study of interactive decision-making, takes into account the decisions of others in making choices. Before Nash's work, the goal of these choices was to minimize loss, but Nash changed the face of the field to maximizing gain.
In the film, Nash has a breakthrough while at the local bar with his friends. He realizes that if each of them tries to win over the gorgeous blond that walks in the room, her friends will be offended and will leave. Only one man can have her, so the others will all lose. Instead, they should all ignore the blond, each choosing one of her friends. Though the blond is now unhappy, everyone else benefits.
More recently, Nash has developed ideas and theories about what he calls "ideal money." He describes money as the "lubrication" that keeps our economies and societies functioning properly.
After pointing out flaws in classic Keynesian economics, Nash explained that ideal money was something for the economic world to continue to work toward. "We of Terra could be taught how to have ideal monetary systems if wise and benevolent extra-terrestrials were to 'take us in hand' and administer our national money systems," he claimed.
Establishing an international monetary unit is his answer to the question of inflation and departure from the gold standard. "The standard has to be a standard," he answered one listener, "or it's not a standard."
Although he is far from Russell Crowe and his talk went over the heads of the majority of the audience members, Dr. Nash's work continues to amaze and inspire.