We can all get rich but to make such a profound and lasting contribution is something more people should open themselves to the idea of doing. Just like anything else it takes hard work and a deep interest - but I believe any person is capable of making these contributions if they do the work, but there's this deep apprehension and notion you need to be a biological genius to do so.<p>Imagine what the great innovators of the early 20th century could have done if they had access to 3d printers for less than a month's worth of rent, machine learning libraries, personal computers, being able to get information on the majority of studies ever published within a span of minutes or hours, being able to collaborate on open source projects.... we have no excuse not to be doing more of this.<p>In the end your legacy is the knowledge you leave behind not your family name. In time the name becomes academic knowledge or commonly held trivia, or perhaps immortalized in popular media. The contribution of knowledge is a different thing entirely - for John Nash it lives on every time we use an electronic device, which is essentially 24 hours a day for the developed world.
I've only had a cursory introduction to Nash's work through brief flirtations with game theory, but this is the best explanation i've found so far on Nash's Equilibrium which i still remember vividly for highlighting why a "Socially Optimal Solution" is pretty rare in real life [1] (apologies in advance to the ted-talk averse).<p>Has anyone got any other good pointers to examples of his work?<p>P.S.
Can anyone recommend A Beautiful Mind, i'm kinda put off by the description in here which makes it sound very hollywoodised [2]?<p>[1] - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jILgxeNBK_8" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jILgxeNBK_8</a><p>[2] - <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/25/science/explaining-a-cornerstone-of-game-theory-john-nashs-equilibrium.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/25/science/explaining-a-corne...</a>
sic transit gloria mundi<p>I find it thought-provoking how often The End comes disguised as a banal accident that could have been avoided with little difficulty (Disclaimer: This is not to instigate a debate about seat belts, it's merely an observation). I always seem to expect that people we feel are somewhat “special” also would have a “special” way of making their exit. And I was reminded again that this expectation has no basis in fact. That the two could leave together and weren't separated in the end was maybe all any-one would wish for in their place.<p>requiescant in pace
A friend who knew him was interviewed for this story: <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-monday-edition-1.3086569/remembering-a-beautiful-mind-nobel-prize-winner-john-nash-dies-1.3086571" rel="nofollow">http://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-monday-edi...</a>