monday, september first. six-fifteen.
the alchemist awakes. "turn lead into gold, max, lead into gold." today, i find it.
heat's been getting to euclid. feel it most in the afternoon when i run the set. have to keep the fans on all night from now on. otherwise, everything is running topnotch. the stack of 286's is now faster than columbia's computer science department. i spent a couple hundred dollars. columbia's cost? half a million? ha.
oh, no.
one hundred fifty-eight thousand, a hundred two. right?
three point three one eight one eight one eight.
somewhere in there. somewhere. i know it's right in front of me. the pattern. they say it's chaos, it can't be understood, too much complexity.
history it's there. lurking, shaping. structuring, hiding, right beneath the surface.
i'll find this structure, this order, this perfection.
turn lead into gold. the first. right here. right here. with math. the numbers of the stock market are my lead. when i find the pattern, then i will find gold.
hello?
yeah?
who's this?
i told you.
sorry, i can't.
i can't.
i don't take offers for my research. you know that. sorry, i couldn't help you.
hi, devi.
great.
what are you doing?
it's fine. it's fine.
i have to go.
thanks.
sixteen, twenty-seven. results: euclid shows tomorrow's dow closing up by four points. anomalies include pronet at sixty-fire and a quarter, a career high. possible explanations, either a, an error in the june fifth algorithm, or b, euclid's main processor is running a recursion.
max.
max cohen.
no, i'm not interested in religion.
no.
i'm sorry, i'm very busy.
really?
i gotta go.
i'm sorry, bye.
please god, let it be a small one.
sixteen thirty-five. second headache in under twenty-four hours. they're getting more frequent now. more painful, too. drugs don't work, just take the edge off of it. just gotta wait for the nosebleed. relief comes from my nose.
ahh.
leave me alone.
no! no!
who is.
my house. how do.
damn.
i didn't get to it.
i'm so close, sol. i'm so close but i just can't grab it.
we'll see.
you found things.
tuesday, september second, eighteen twelve. if sol hadn't gotten sick who knows where math would be. he spent years in the numbers of pi. searching for meaning, for order.
three point one four. off into infinity and maybe insanity. somewhere in there he wanted sanity. sanity like he found in the circles pi represented. simple, sane circles. if only the stock market had circles. some type of sanity. some type of form, of shape.
oh, okay.
um, i work with computers . math.
number theory. mostly research.
yeah.
hm.
kind of interesting.
they're fibonacci numbers.
the fibonacci sequence. italian mathematician, thirteenth century. if you divide a hundred and forty-four into two hundred and thirty-three, it approaches theta.
the greek symbol for the golden ratio. the golden spiral.
wherever there's spirals.
math everywhere.
everywhere.
oh my god.
simple shapes! tuesday, september second. twenty-twenty-two. sol! sol! sol! shapes in the market. why not? and they're spirals! spirals!
a circle spread out overtime. it's open-ended. it has a beginning and it grows and changes through time. if i can find where it fits, if i can spin it and lock it into a group of numbers, then i can calculate the future. lead into gold. chaos into order madness into sanity. pain into bliss. perfection.
what the.
shit!
what the.
euclid crashed. i lost all my data, my hardware.
burnt.
i don't know, first i got these horrible picks. then euclid spits out some numbers. never saw anything like it and then it fries. the whole machine just crashed.
of?
i threw it out.
i don't know, just a long string of digits.
i don't know.
i don't know. probably around two hundred. why?
yeah.
that a breakthrough will come.
hey, excuse me, can i see that?
six and a half.
fourteen and a half. oh, my.
my god. my god. yes! yes!
who are you?
i'm sorry, i don't.
no, no, no, really, i can't.
on the nose. on the damn nose.
um, no, it's max from next door.
do you have any iodine?
no. i just need it to stain a slide.
just something with my computer.
i just threw out something. i didn't realize i needed it.
just a printout. i, uh, lost my data.
oh, hey.
you gotta car?
all tight, lets go.
lenny, i don't really want to do.
you know me?
i have?
what kind of pattern?
what sort of number?
two sixteen?
what is it?
no, i mean the number, the two sixteen number? what is it?
tell me more.
what's going on, sol!?
what's the two hundred and sixteen number, sol?
you asked me if i had seen a two hundred and sixteen digit number, right?
what do you mean by "found it"?
well, there's these religious jews who have.
well, you know, hassidim. i met one in the coffee shop. the guy's a number theorist. the torah is their data set. the thing is, they're searching for a two hundred and sixteen digit number in the torah.
they say they don't know, but that's crazy. i mean what are the odds.
but hold on, there's something else. you remember those strange picks i got.
right. well, it turns out that they were correct. i hit two picks on the nose. smack on the nose.
something's going on, and it has to do with that number. the answer is there.
no. it's a pattern. a pattern is in that number
but as a go game progresses, the possibilities become smaller and smaller. the board does take on order. soon, all moves are predictable.
so, maybe, even though we're not sophisticated enough to be aware of it, there is an underlying order. a pattern, beneath every go game. maybe that pattern is like the pattern in the market, in the torah. the two sixteen number.
or maybe it's genius. i have to get that number.
damn it already! stop following me. i'm not interested in your money. i'm searching for a way to understand our world. i'm searching for perfection. i don't deal with mediocre materialistic people like you!
go.
i'm not interested.
i told you i don't want money.
ming mecca. they're not declassified.
what do. do.
yeah, i got to go.
let me think about it.
hey!
jenna. i can't now, jenna.
i'm working now, later okay?
lenny, it's max cohen.
i've been thinking about our conversation earlier.
i want to help.
do you have the torah in digital form?
thursday, september fourth, sixteen forty-five. the alchemist awakes. all of my ideas, work and dreams are spinning together it all has to do with spirals. it began with spirals and the answers are thee.
if you take the width of this rectangle and use it to form a square within the rectangle, the part left over is a rectangle that has the same ratio as the original rectangle. au can continue squaring the rectangle, over and over again, making the rectangles smaller and smaller to infinity.
if we're built from spirals, while living within a giant spiral, is it possible that all of human behavior, if it could be quantified, is in the form of a spiral. then, maybe, extensions of our behavior like the stock market. maybe even the writing of the torah, is infused with the spiral pattern.
friday, september fifth. seven twelve. it's fair to say, i'm stepping out onto a limb. but i'm on the edge and that's where it happens.
marcy dawson.
max cohen.
look what do you want for the chip?
no, i don't.
i don't know if i'll find anything useful.
okay. first, i want you to call off the surveillance.
yeah, i'm a very private person. knock on my door and leave the suitcase outside. i don't want to talk to anyone.
i'll knock back.
what is it?
no, what is it? the two hundred and sixteen digits.
if the number's in there, i'll find it.
wha.
no, no.
no, no, i just. it's that she's your girl.
no, no, sir, please. i've never touched devi. i never will.
okay.
friday, september fifth? lots of work to be done. but i'm close, so close. today is the day might have cost me my soul, but down the line i'll work it out. just keep them in the dark, let them beg. a damn ming mecca chip. it's like giving a desperate junkie a syringe filled with junk. defense uses them to nun nuclear sub reactors. me? i'm going to dissect the market.
happy birthday, euclid.
eighteen thirty. press return.  max darts over and smacks the return. moments later we see what max sees
oh god. damn religious freaks. the holy torah.
ah god.
too much. too soon.
ohh.
stop, please, stop.
what the?
what is it!? what is it!?
two. two hundred. that's it! that's it!
oh.
what happened?
the number, the number.
four. zero.  seven. it's in my head, it's in my head. somehow i memorized it. i got it up here!
but what is it?
0ut, out, you have to get out. get out, get out it's my room!
out! 0utt
out! get out!
saturday? dark outside. there was a moment there. when, i don't know. when i didn't exist. what? what?
bastard.
two and a quarter, twelve and an eighth, six and two eighths.
i know these. seven and a quarter. two and a half . oh. oh.
my god. it's gonna crash, it's gonna fucking crash.
you lied to me.
you found the two sixteen number in pi, didn't you? you saw it.
i saw it, sol. i don't know what happened, but i know things. the market is going to crash. it's going to crash. it hasn't yet, but i know it will. i saw it, sol. what is it, sol? what's the number?
it's in my head!
the computer becomes conscious?
studying the pattern made euclid conscious of itself. before it died it spit out the number that consciousness is the number.
stop? how can i stop? i'm this close.
what are you saying?
you were afraid of it. that's why you quit.
c'mon, sol.
that's bullshit. it's math, numbers, ideas. mathematicians are suppose to be out on the edge. you taught me that!
that's where discoveries happen. we have to go out there alone, all alone, no one can accompany us. we have to search the edge. we have to risk it all. but you ran from it. you're a coward.
you can't tell me what it is. you don't know you've retreated to your goldfish, to your books, to your go, but you're not satisfied.
i want to understand it. i want to know!
who are you working for?
i don't want your wallet. who sent you?
who the hell sent you!?
who are you?!
leave me alone, damn it. leave me alone.
marcy? what's up?
i can't, i got work.
don't ever hit.
leave me alone. i don't know anything.
hey! hey! hey!
i didn't do anything. i didn't play the market.
how could you do that?
you selfish, irresponsible cretins. how could you be so stupid!?
c'mon! i know who you are. you're not gonna save the world.
my god, what are you doing?
you can't kill me!
you bastards! you stupid bastards!
farrouhk!
c'mon.
farrouhk what about farrouhk!?
go back!
what's going on?
what's going on?
yeah, i have it!
what is it?
what are you doing!? what the hell are you doing!?
it's not on me. it's in my head.
who?
why do you care?
screw you!
they've got part of it now get off me!
using what?
let go!
yeah, yeah
what is it?
you wouldn't be so flipped out if you didn't know. what's happening to me?
screw you!
what are you.
so?
yeah.
you're telling me that the number in my head is the name of god!?
that's what happened. i saw god.
it's more than god.  it s everything. it's math and science and nature.  the universe. i saw the universe's dna
i saw everything.
garden? you're not pure. i'm the one who has the number
it was given to me. it's part of me. it's changing me.
and what will it do to you?
the number is nothing. you know that!
it's just a number. i'm sure you've written down every two hundred sixteen number. you've translated all of them. you've intoned them all. haven't you? but what's it gotten you? it's not the number! it's the meaning. it's the syntax. it's what's between the numbers. if you could understand you would. but it's not for you! i've got it. i understand it. i'm going to see it! rabbi. i was chosen.
sol?
what do you mean?
where is he?
no.
stop it, please!
no. no. i'm ready. i'm ready! show me!
three, seven, two.
where am i? what is this? this is wrong, sol. sol!
sol! you were right sol! he was right.
he was right. i want to breathe. breathe.
i don't know. i really don't know. what is it, jenna?
oh.