[Lt. Cmdr. Data is playing poker with holographic forms of Sir Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, and Sir Stephen Hawking.]
But then, I said, in that frame of reference, the perihelion of Mercury would have processed in the opposite direction.
[laughs] That is a great story!
Quite amusing, Dr. Hawking. [turns to Newton] You see, Sir Isaac, the joke depends on an understanding of the relativistic curvature of spacetime. If two non-inertial reference frames are in relative motion--
Do not patronize me, sir. I invented physics. The day that apple fell on my head was the most momentous day in the history of science.
Not the apple story again.
That story is generally considered to be apocryphal.
What?! How dare you!
Uh, perhaps we should return to the game, hmm? Now let's see, where were we? Yes, you [points at Hawking] raised Mr. Data four, which means that, um, the bet is...seven, to me?
The bet is ten. Can't you do simple arithmetic? [sighs] I don't even know why I'm here in the first place. What is the point of playing this ridiculous game?
When I play poker with my shipmates, it often appears to be a useful forum for exploring the different facets of humanity. I was curious to see how three of history's greatest minds would interact in this setting. So far, it has proved to be most...illuminating.
And profitable. Heh heh heh...
Can we get this over with, please? [to Hawking] It's your bet.
I raise fifty.
Blast. I fold.
I fold as well.
The Uncertainty Principle will not help you now, Stephen, hmm? All the quantum fluctuations in the universe will not change the cards in your hand. I call. You are bluffing. And you will lose.
Wrong again, Albert.
[a mechanical arm lowers, revealing that Hawking has a four of a kind.]
Well. Hmm...
[the comm beeps]
Riker (over comm): Red Alert! All personnel report to duty stations!
We will have to continue this another time. End program.
In his foreword to The Physics of Star Trek (p. xi), Hawking joked that after "winning" the holodeck card game, he called Paramount Pictures to try and cash in his chips, "but they didn't know the exchange rate."
Hawking's off-screen remark which Newton doesn't understand is an inside joke: Einstein understands the joke (and Data, who has no sense of humor, understands that a joke has been made and appreciates it), but Newton doesn't get it. Data explains that the joke is based on knowledge about the perihelion precession of the planet Mercury, before Newton angrily cuts him off, saying "Don't patronize me, I invented physics". The perihelion precession of Mercury could not be explained by Newtonian physics alone, and was regarded as a major flaw of Newton's theory, but it later was explained by Einstein's General Theory of Relativity.
Furthermore, Hawking's comment "Wrong again, Albert," when revealing his winning hand is a reference to the professor's life work in physics, in which he has disproved some of Einstein's theories.
Einstein has trouble with the math of how much the next bet is. Newton asked if Einstein could do "simple arithmetic". It is a commonly held myth that he could not. In fact, he was quite brilliant as a child, and began teaching himself higher math when he had outpaced his schooling.
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