A Mathematical Genius

anarayan #25 you write ``I don`t think schizophrenia is a disease...in the sense of being caused by viruses and germs. Its an internal problem caused by being in a state of excessive and continuous stress. ``

Actually it is a disease, and often more readily curable with medicines now available than people realize. The basic problem is that ``neurotransmitters`` (chemicals that tranmit information from one nerve cell to another) malfunction, thus distoring messages (thereby causing psychotic behavior, like thinking people on TV are talking to them and so forth). This problem is addressed by medicines that cause these chemical imbalances to be compensated, thereby bringing the individual back to ``sanity``. This is a simplified explanation from a non-expert in the business. By not treating mental illness as a disease that is often treatable but as a ``condition`` caused by stress (as you say), countless lives that could have been brought back to reality have been relegated to mental institutions. The only mental disease we have in south asia is to think we know more than we do.

Anarayan #25

``I don`t think schizophrenia is a disease...``]]

I hope you are not an Allopathic doctor even if non psychiatrist because you single handedly though unsucessfully ,tried to undo hundred years of public service announcement educating people about it.

Of course coming from India such ailments are treated by OJHA & SADHU ba ba in benares touting all sorts of charlatan palmistry ,astrology vedic science of Murli Manohar Joshi .There are similar influence in subcontinent Moulvis attempt to treated it by ``tabeez`` i will admit ,but atleast i dont trivialize it by amateurish attempt of ones unprofessional experience.

Gill Sahab,

I would like to apologize for the lighthearted manner in my previous post. I was off course not aware of your personal problem about which I feel deep sympathy for you and your family.

No doubt you have read a lot about schizophrenia and perhaps also consulted with very many good doctors.

I have been interested in this thing for some time. During my campus years I knew a number of students on the line and beyond. For some reason they gravitated towards me and I did my part for them...which was mainly to listen to them. So I would like to share some thoughts with you.

I don`t think schizophrenia is a disease...in the sense of being caused by viruses and germs. Its an internal problem caused by being in a state of excessive and continuous stress.

Its as if the brain has gone into an infinite loop - mulling over a unsolvable, personal problem continuously. Being a man of science you know of resonant systems...systems that feed energy back into itself. I feel this is something akin to that. Some very personal problem (real or imagined) causes anxiety...anxiety causes one more problem (victim says I need to get rid of this anxiety)...which again causes more anxiety...and so on. This keeps up long after the initial problem has disappeared.

The brain is tremendously resilient. But beyond the breaking point...it falls and falls rapidly. What is the state of the brain/mind in that depth? I would say if there is something called living hell...this is it. Its like watching yourself being eaten alive.

On the positive side, I believe the brain can heal itself. Its not a piece of machinery that once broken stays broken for ever. Once the infinite-loop is broken (somehow), the brain will slowly but surely fix itself.

Perhaps your son was ok in his teen years. How did it start? Was it a `girl` problem? It usually is. But, whatever the initial problem...its probably long gone now.

IMHO, the greatest hurdle in breaking the loop is to break the victim`s firm belief ``I-am-not-ok``. This is the problem that his brain is battling and its THE loop. He wakes up with this thought and goes to sleep with it.

best wishes,

Freethinker #21

Now i know who freethinker mysterious occasional mask man is.Be careful of me from now.

``I had mentioned Ramanujan`s name only incidentally; he was not the main character of my essay. My essay was about Nash Jr. who is agreat mathematician in his own right. It is strange that none of the inter-actors even said a word about him.``

How many Desi would be more interested in White Anglo Saxon ....Nash ,i dont know Ramanujen as i said most Indians are well aware of him...sorry think locally act globally

DRUMZ #20, ``One day ima come to NYC with my red turban and embarrass u at work, cool?``

Don`t forget the Kirpan, you might need it :)

freethinker--21

Mr.Gill

I appreciate you posting the stuff about Tesla.I did,however,glean some insights from your material about him.One does benefit from readily accessable material otherwise as you rightly pointed out every & all kind of info is available in the library & the net.The whole idea here is start a conversation and not,hopefully,to give a test to anyone.

Isn`t is amazing and awesome how these great minds impact our lives.In much more subtle,silent and profound manner than any ruckus-ratcheted revolution.The metaphor of a zero-sum game is part of our collective psyche now so from your article it dawned upon me that we are not simply ``doing math here``.

__________________________________________________

I am forgetting the name of another great mathemetician who again resolved what was called (I think) Pascals theorem a couple of years ago.The documentary about such ``uncool`` subject that I saw would put the best James Bond thrillers to shame.I was almost sweating near the end.I wish I could remember the name.Maybe soebody reading this could help me here.rjanjua sahib?PLEASE!

I shall try to provide some information in the following to some questions asked and comments made in different feedbacks.

Mr. Afaqui:

I really do not know what information I should provide you about Tesla because I do not know how much you already know about him. You might know more about him than I do. I am a Civil Engineer although I`m not totally green in electrical engineering. Well I`ll take a shot in the dark. Incidentally, my information is based on

www.yale.edu/scimag/Archives/vol71/Tesla.htm.

You yourself can access it and read it. If more information is needed, you may like to read a book about Tesla. Anyhow, I give you some information in the following. The first time I had the opportunity of having any meaningful discussion regarding Tesla was last year with my elder brother who is a Mechanical Engineer. He was very fond of Tesla and talked about his work very enthusiastically. All that I knew about Tesla was that he had invented radio. My discussion with my brother did spark my interest in Tesla but busy as I am, I could not get around to reading any reliable book on Tesla.

Tesla was the genius who literally lit the world. He was born during an electrical storm at the stroke of midnight between July 9 and 10, 1856 in Smilijan, Croatia. He immigrated to the U.S. in 1884 and became a citizen. He received his schooling at the Polytechnic School in Graz. His passion for study was such that reportedly, he read twenty hours a day. And what did he read? Descartes, Goethe, Spencer, Shakespeare, and more of the same. He could speak nine languages. Wow. However, in spite of his long reading hours, he did not graduate from the Austrian Polytechnic School. He then continued his studies at the University of Prague. In 1881, Tesla started working as a Draftsman and a Designer for the Engineering Department at the Central Telegraph Office in Budapest. It was here that he conceived of his rotating magnetic field principle that was to revolutionize the power industry and would make Alternating Current (AC) a viable means of providing electric power. In order to sell his idea to a bigger company, he joined the Continental Edison Company in Paris. In 1884, upon arriving in the U.S., he went directly to Edison and offered him his idea about the AC. Although Edison was not interested in AC because he had heavily invested in the Direct Current (DC) technology, he offered a job to Tesla as an engineer. Edison asked Tesla to redesign DC dynamos and promised him a reward of $50,000 if he could improve the DC technology. Although Tesla knew that DC technology was dead-end and had no potential in the future, he nevertheless produced some twenty four new DC designs. Edison was pleased but he did not honor his promise; Tesla was shortchanged. He left Edison in disgust. Then in 1888, George Westinghouse purchased some of Tesla`s patents for a paltry sum of $60,000 of which only $5,000 was paid in cash; for the balance, he was given 150 shares of stock. Tesla`s fame spread far and wide when Westinghouse won the contract to supply the Chicago World`s Fair of 1893 with electricity. In 1895, the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company and General Electric Company teamed up to harness the hydro-electric power of Niagara Falls. Tesla also developed the apparatus and circuits used for wireless communication. His experiments with high frequency and high potential alternating currents resulted in the development of the `Tesla Coil`.

Tesla got entangled with Marconi also on the priority claims for the invention of radio. In 1943, his claim was vindicated by the Supreme Court, which granted full rights to him nullifying Marconi`s claim. Marconi however succeeded in beating Tesla as the first person to send a wireless telegraph across the Atlantic, which prompted Tesla to remark, ``Let him continue. He is using seventeen of my patents``. These kinds of disputes are not uncommon in the fields of science and technology. A similar kind of feud, but much more intense and of a much wider involvement, had raged between Newton and Leibinz, for the development of Calculus.

Intercontinental jealousies had also fired the sentiments for unduly elevating Edison over Tesla in the displays at the Smithonsian Institution. This observation was corroborated by a testimony of Senator Carl Levin who remarked, ``..Nikola Tesla has not been granted his proper place in history. In the Smithsonian institution, for example, Mr. Edison`s inventions are justifiably well represented. However, although the Museum has included Mr. Tesla`s alternating current in their exhibit, no mention is made of Mr. Tesla. In fact, the generator is included as part of the Edison exhibit``. Tesla`s inventions are numerous and in areas, such as inter-planetary communication, which are quite original. He had some 700 patents in the U.S. and Europe.Some of his ideas could have become the themes of science fiction.

Tesla did not own a house; he lived in hotels. He died on January 7, 1943, alone, poor, and all but forgotten, in a New York hotel room. He was born into the world during an electrical storm, and left our generation with the scientific legacy of an electrical revolution.

Dear Anarayan:

I do not have any philosophy regarding any connection between a genius and a schizophrenic person. Unfortunately, my oldest son is schizophrenic; I think I know what a terrible disease schizophrenia is. One of the Social Workers, who was helping my son had remarked that the scientists and intellectuals in general, are prone to having this disease. I could not think of any link between the two and I was a bit skeptical about the statement that the Social worker had made and I still am. I think that this disease does not discriminate; it can afflict any body. Then again, no body really knows the causes of this disease accurately or definitively. Therefore I am really not in a position to corroborate or disagree with your theory.

Shatru Sinha and rsridhar:

I first came across Ramanujan`s name around 1969 when I was nearly half way through my Ph. D. work at Imperial College of Science and Technology. I was searching for a reference in a journal of mathematics, and in that paper, I came across Ramanujan`s name. I was truly intrigued and I wanted to know more about him. Eventually I got to Hardy`s book and read all about Ramanujan. Curiously, Jawahar Lal Nehru mentioned Ramanujan in his Discovery of India, not quite disparagingly but not graciously either. He thought Ramanujan was not as great as the British were making him, as if they were somehow using Ramanujan`s name in a `politically correct` manner. Nehru probably could not probably think about Ramanujan in non-political terms.

Ramanujan died young, at the age of 32-33 years. He could not go for a higher degree at home in India because in his Intermediate examination, he failed all the tests excepting mathematics. Therefore his knowledge of even mathematics was not broad based. His special field was theory of numbers in which he excelled. It is believed that he would have been a much greater mathematician had he received formal higher education in mathematics. Yes, he was honored by the Indian government, which issued a commemorative postage stamp in his honor. Yes, he left a notebook behind after his death, which contained many unproven theorems on which many respectable mathematicians worked for a number of years to prove them.

I had mentioned Ramanujan`s name only incidentally; he was not the main character of my essay. My essay was about Nash Jr. who is agreat mathematician in his own right. It is strange that none of the inter-actors even said a word about him.

Thanks every one for your feedback, and regards.

Mohammad Akram Gill

Scout: U aint that bad yourself... One day ima come to NYC with my red turban and embarrass u at work, cool?

Gill Sahib:

Your article is very interesting and timely. It explains a lot to me and I am able to appreciate the ``The beautiful Mind``

Sometimes when I read the comments or replies it seems to me that Chowk is choked by Neanderthals who mostly discuss their personal problems without any relevance to the topic. Their replies or responses are full of personal prejudices and they let it all hang out.

Good luck to you and keep on writing.

cutie pie #17, ``Dont invite people to a dirty house (clean it first).``

you`re smarter than i thought you were.

Hamzad: I u dont like it then why do it? Im not picking on u alone, theres many who do that. Look, if i wanted to read something from CNN i would go to their site. What is the purpose in providing Islamic centered news? I think most people know what Islam is about. If ur trying to initiate conversions or trying to educate the kaffir, Ill tell u the same thing I told an Imam ``Dont invite people to a dirty house (clean it first).

peace to Allah.

GENIOUS IS MAD

The normative idea of sanity is derived from an average persons behaviour, essentially that of a mediocre person. Genious obviously has to deviate from the average to become genious, so is the mad.

The average banal person can notive only the deviation from the norm, he may call it mad, he may call it genious, what is the difference.

The important aspect is both , the mad and genious are non average, as such they may be termed mad or genious.

DRUMZ---12.

No it would not,and that is not the effort & intent either.I value your input,incisive & forthright that it is,but I would request you to bear with me & scroll past.Soon it may not be needed.I do not like it myself.

Tesla has always fascinated me.The ``terrorism`` by Edison has truly not been reported(been done just enough to lay claim to ``objectivity``)and the Canadians are so awash in an inferiority complex that they are proud to have two masters to serve(Brits & Yanks)

Gill Sahab,

IMHO, there is no DIRECT connection between genius and madness. There might be an INDIRECT connection though.

What is genius? Were Einstein and Russell geniuses? If so why were their personal lives so screwed up? So perhaps what we call genius is the ability to super-excel in one or two spheres only - not a wholistic kind of intelligence that is manifest in every area of one`s life.

This `narrow` genius comes naturally to people who can hold in their heads a single concept or idea for a very long time. This means that their brains naturally exclude all other thoughts easily. The key word being NATURALLY...not by FORCE or WILLPOWER.

Combine the above with a good sized ego and the normal thoughts everyone has about enemies...and you have a recipe for eventual disaster.

All the intelligent `kooks` I met so far had super-sized egos. Not one of them could be called humble by any means.

Err...the above is only my HUMBLE opinion!

regards,

GSCheema,

``Pakistan has Gills?``

Must be true. Last week CNN said Pakistan was upto its gills in debt!

regards,

Hamzad: Do u think Islam will parrish without ur contributions? As u can see, I dislike everyones cut and pastes (if one cannot say it himself, it aint worth saying).

The tesla question was GOOD. Someone look into that and how biz/govts have interests in keeping technology limited. He could make energy so easily that they stopped him from doing it. Reminds me of goodyear which prevented efficient train tracks to be built all around the us (there`s a reason why things just stay the same) not good for tires. There was just a study describing why WEED is outlawed (more efficient then oil).

PS: Anyone know about schizo... Q: If he`s imagining things, the answers/ideas must be a result of what he already knows right? (Please dont mention the `S` word (subcon...)