182: Nash
explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb.
| Nash |
 Title text: Maybe someday science will get over its giant collective crush on Richard Feynman. But I doubt it! |
[edit] Explanation
The first panel references a scene in the movie A Beautiful Mind in which Dr. John Forbes Nash, Jr. comes up with his famous concept of Nash equilibrium when he realizes that they get suboptimal results if all the guys go after the same hot girl. The second panel deconstructs the idea by having Dr. Nash point out that staying away from the hot girl does not actually constitute a stable Nash equilibrium. The third panel has physicist Dr. Richard Feynman render the entire discussion moot by taking all the girls while the mathematicians ponder optimal strategies. That panel, and the title text, refer both to the great respect many scientists and/or geeks had for him, and to his reputation as something of a lady's man.
[edit] Transcript
- [Cueball and Dr. Nash stand talking to each other. Cueball is pointing off-panel.]
- Cueball: Hey, Dr. Nash, I think those gals over there are eyeing us. This is like your Nash Equilibrium, right? One of them is hot, but we should each flirt with one of her less-desirable friends. Otherwise we risk coming on too strong to the hot one and just driving the group off.
- Dr. Nash: Well, that's not really the sort of situation I wrote about. Once we're with the ugly ones, there's no incentive for one of us not to try to switch to the hot one. It's not a stable equilibrium.
- First Man: Crap, forget it. Looks like all three are leaving with one guy.
- [Dr. Nash shakes his fist.]
- Dr. Nash: Dammit, Feynman!
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