天才或瘋子

John Nash和David Helfgott都是曾經患上精神病的天才，兩人的生平都被戲劇化地拍成兩套電視，即A Beautiful Mind（有你終身美麗）和Shine（閃亮的風采）。兩人都似乎是年幼孤癖的天才，因追求更偉大的成就而病發。最後兩人都康復，David Helfgott再次演奏，John Nash更因對Game Theory的貢獻而獲得1994年諾貝爾經濟學獎。然而，對乎其「發瘋(Madness)」經歷，John Nash卻另有一番與別不同的見地。

John Nash在其諾貝爾經濟學獎的自述中說：“So at the present time I seem to be thinking rationally again in the style that is characteristic of scientists. However this is not entirely a matter of joy as if someone returned from physical disability to good physical health. One aspect of this is that rationality of thought imposes a limit on a person’s concept of his relation to the cosmos. For example, a non-Zoroastrian could think of Zarathustra as simply a madman who led millions of naive followers to adopt a cult of ritual fire worship. But without his “madness”, Zarathustra would necessarily have been only another of the millions or billions of human individuals who have lived and then been forgotten.”

註：Zoroastrian：古波斯的祅教徒，即中國元朝的明教。Zarathustra：古波斯祆教的始祖。