Tuesday, May 4, 2010

PI

1) The ending of the movie Pi glorifies the search for truth in that the intent is laudable but the outcome will always be futile. Like the golden ratio, the search for truth is never-ending, although an individual can near the truth, he will always be very far from the answer. Max's surrender seemed like a waste of time, but the process was effective because Max gave his utmost shot, but he finally realized his best (or any other individual's best) would never be enough to find the secret of life. I actually believe that Max's efforts were purposeful and successful. Not many people can ever achieve close to what Max had achieved with his calculations, and I don't think he is a coward because he shrewdly knew not to continue fighting for something he could never beat in his lifetime.
2) The film maker shows that subjective truth can never collide with objective truth. Although objective truth may exist somewhere in the quandaries of the Earth, a human mind is shown to be incapable in tapping in to the realm of the absolute, similar to the absurdist beliefs that the pursuit for truth is forlorn. It seems defeatist, but rather it can be rationally seen as a barren ideal.
3) The movie delves in to the seemingly unworkable concept that math can be beautiful. However the film maker achieves his intent successfully by revealing the mathematical patterns visible in the natural world which vies to be amazing to the extent of aesthetic appeal. The consistency of a line of ants or the perfectly calculated patterns of a black and white pieces on a Go board was shown to be beautiful. When the Go board exhibited the golden ratio, the majority of my classmates gasped because it was attractive.

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