Christopher Langan

For the actor and writer, see Chris Langham.
Christopher Langan

Chris and his wife, Gina Langan.
Born c. 1952 (age 63–64)
San Francisco, California
Residence Princeton, Missouri
Nationality American
Alma mater Reed College, Montana State University
Occupation Intellectual, Independent Researcher, Scholar
Home town Bozeman, Montana
Spouse(s) Dr. Gina Langan

Christopher Michael Langan (born c. 1952) is an American whose IQ was reported to be between 195 and 210,[1] although IQ tests are unreliable at such high levels.[2][3][4] He has been described as "the smartest man in America" as well as "the smartest man in the world" by the media.[5] Langan has developed a "theory of the relationship between mind and reality" which he calls the "Cognitive-Theoretic Model of the Universe" (CTMU).[6][7][8] His work is closer to the Spinozist God and Spinozism than most other systems. His work is essentially, analytical moral epistemology, in the vein of Nicholas Rescher and Bertrand Russell.

Early life

Chris Langan (left) with a relative in the 1950s.

Langan was born in San Francisco, California, circa 1952. He spent most of his early life in Montana, with his mother and three brothers. His mother was the daughter of a wealthy shipping executive but was cut off from her family's fortune. Langan didn't grow up with his biological father as he died or disappeared before he was born. This eventually resulted in an economic struggle for the family, causing a food scarcity, reducing the family to a life of poverty.[9]

During elementary school, Langan was repeatedly skipped ahead, which resulted in torment by his peers. Although teachers praised Langan for his college-level work, his peers still bullied him, not for his intelligence, but because of his family's socio-economic status. Langan has disclosed that he was brutally beaten by his stepfather, Jack Langan. Chris Langan recalled that his "stepfather constantly asked [Chris] difficult questions, and when I'd give him correct answers to those questions, he'd bat me in the mouth or something of that nature to let me know he didn't appreciate a guy trying to be smarter than he was."[10] At the age of twelve years, Langan began weight training, and forcibly ended the abuse by throwing his stepfather out of the house and telling him never to return when he was fourteen.[11]

Langan says he spent the last years of high school mostly in independent study, teaching himself "advanced math, physics, philosophy, Latin and Greek".[7] He allegedly earned a perfect score on the SAT (pre-1995 scale) despite taking a nap during the test.[10] Langan attended Reed College and later Montana State University, but faced with financial and transportation problems, and believing that he could teach his professors more than they could teach him, he dropped out.[7]

Later life

Langan took a string of labor-intensive jobs for some time, and by his mid-40s had been a construction worker, cowboy, Forest Service Ranger, farmhand, and, for over twenty years, a bouncer on Long Island. Langan was also approached and contracted by Disney Research[12] and he previously worked for Virtual Logistix, a technology company.[6] According to company records, Langan "produced original research in various fields of mathematics, including graph theory, algebra, advanced logic and model theory, abstract computation theory and the theory of computational intractability, artificial intelligence, physics and cosmology".[13] Langan said he developed a "double-life strategy": on one side a regular guy, doing his job and exchanging pleasantries, and on the other side coming home to perform equations in his head, working in isolation on his Cognitive-Theoretic Model of the Universe (CTMU).[7]

Intellectual pursuits

In 1999, Langan and others formed a non-profit corporation called the "Mega Foundation" to "create and implement programs that aid in the development of severely gifted individuals and their ideas" (the organization's designation for those with IQs of 164 or above).[6][10]

Langan has allegedly completed Design for a Universe, but is searching for ways to optimize the publicity and sale of the book.[6][14] Langan has also been quoted as saying that "you cannot describe the universe completely with any accuracy unless you're willing to admit that it's both physical and mental in nature"[15] and that the CTMU "explains the connection between mind and reality, therefore the presence of cognition and universe in the same phrase".[16] He calls his proposal "a true 'Theory of Everything', a cross between John Archibald Wheeler's 'Participatory Universe' and Stephen Hawking's 'Imaginary Time' theory of cosmology."[7] In conjunction with his ideas, Langan has claimed: "You can prove the existence of God, the soul and an afterlife, using mathematics."[10]

The CTMU has gained both praise,[17] and controversy in the scientific community. Robert Seitz, a former NASA Executive and Mega Foundation director stated "every physicist is inundated with amateurs' ‘Theories of Everything,' but Chris' CTMU is very, very different".[17] On the flip side, the CTMU theory has been criticized for its use of convoluted language. Langan's use of terms he has invented (or redefined) has made his exposition obscure. Some suggest this is deliberate.[18]

In 2004, Langan moved with his wife Gina (née LoSasso), a clinical neuropsychologist, to northern Missouri, where he owns and operates a horse ranch and undertakes activities for his Foundation.[19]

Chris Langan grooms a horse at his ranch in Missouri.

Asked about creationism, Langan has said:

"I believe in the theory of evolution, but I believe as well in the allegorical truth of creation theory. In other words, I believe that evolution, including the principle of natural selection, is one of the tools used by God to create mankind. Mankind is then a participant in the creation of the universe itself, so that we have a closed loop. I believe that there is a level on which science and religious metaphor are mutually compatible."[16]

Langan has said elsewhere that he does not belong to any religious denomination, explaining that he "can't afford to let [his] logical approach to theology be prejudiced by religious dogma".[16] He calls himself "a respecter of all faiths, among peoples everywhere".

In a 2014 radio interview, Langan said that he has worked on the P versus NP problem and thinks he can prove that P does not equal NP.[20]

Chris Langan in popular culture

References

  1. ↑ For the claimed figure of 195, see Sager 1999, McFadden 1999, Fowler 2000, Wigmore 2000, O'Connell 2001, Brabham 2001, and Quain 2001. In Morris 2001, Langan relates that he took what was billed as "the world's most difficult IQ test" in Omni magazine, and gives his IQ as "somewhere between 190 and 210",
  2. ↑ Perleth, Christoph; Schatz, Tanja; Mönks, Franz J. (2000). "Early Identification of High Ability". In Heller, Kurt A.; Mönks, Franz J.; Sternberg, Robert J.; Subotnik, Rena F. International Handbook of Giftedness and Talent (2nd ed.). Amsterdam: Pergamon. p. 301. ISBN 978-0-08-043796-5. Lay summary (6 October 2013). norm tables that provide you with such extreme values are constructed on the basis of random extrapolation and smoothing but not on the basis of empirical data of representative samples.
  3. ↑ Urbina, Susana (2011). "Chapter 2: Tests of Intelligence". In Sternberg, Robert J.; Kaufman, Scott Barry. The Cambridge Handbook of Intelligence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 20–38. ISBN 9780521739115. Lay summary (9 February 2012). [Curve-fitting] is just one of the reasons to be suspicious of reported IQ scores much higher than 160
  4. ↑ Lohman, David F.; Foley Nicpon, Megan (2012). "Chapter 12: Ability Testing & Talent Identification" (PDF). In Hunsaker, Scott. Identification: The Theory and Practice of Identifying Students for Gifted and Talented Education Services. Waco (TX): Prufrock. pp. 287–386. ISBN 978-1-931280-17-4. Lay summary (14 July 2013). The concerns associated with SEMs [standard errors of measurement] are actually substantially worse for scores at the extremes of the distribution, especially when scores approach the maximum possible on a test ... when students answer most of the items correctly. In these cases, errors of measurement for scale scores will increase substantially at the extremes of the distribution. Commonly the SEM is from two to four times larger for very high scores than for scores near the mean (Lord, 1980).
  5. ↑ For the phrase "the smartest man in America," see Sager 1999, Fowler 2000, Wigmore 2000, and Brabham 2001. O'Connell 2001 (in the standfirst) uses "the smartest man in the world," and Quain 2001 (on the cover) uses "the Smartest Man Alive."
  6. 1 2 3 4 Quain, John R. (October 14, 2001). "Wise Guy" (Interview with Christopher Langan and Science Works in Mysterious Ways. Popular Science.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 Sager, Mike (November 1999). "The Smartest Man in America". Esquire. Archived from the original on 2001-04-21.
  8. ↑ Preston, Ray (November 15, 2006).
  9. ↑ Sager 1999; Brabham 2001.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 McFadden, Cynthia. (December 9, 1999). "The Smart Guy" and "An Official Genius". 20/20.
  11. ↑ Wigmore, Barry. (February 7, 2000). "Einstein's brain, King Kong's body". The Times.
  12. ↑ Muscle & Fitness, May 2001
  13. ↑ From Vilox Advisory Board webpage, archived on 2001-05-03
  14. ↑ "World's Smartest Man Speaks Out!" BBS Radio, July 15, 2014
  15. ↑ O'Connell, Jeff. (May 2001). "Mister Universe". Muscle & Fitness.
  16. 1 2 3 "ABCNEWS.com Chat Transcript". ABC News. December 10, 1999. Archived from the original on 2000-08-16. Retrieved 2012-06-09.
  17. 1 2 "Chris Langan". 9types.com. Retrieved 2015-09-02.
  18. ↑ "Another Crank comes to visit: The Cognitive Theoretic Model of the Universe".
  19. ↑ Preston, Ray (November 15, 2006). "Meet the Smartest Man in America".
  20. ↑ "World's Smartest Man Speaks Out!" The People Speak, July 15, 2014. BBS Radio.
  21. ↑ Smartest Man In America Lives In Missouri, KMBC-TV 2007.
  22. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cy9o0lSJpk
  23. ↑ Morris, Errol. (August 14, 2001). "The Smartest Man in the World". First Person.
  24. ↑ Preston, Ray. (November 15, 2006). "Meet the Smartest Man in America"
  25. ↑ http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xbtmqj_the-man-with-200-iq_people
  26. ↑ "BBC One - Make Me..., Make Me Smart". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2015-09-02.
  27. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPZe5HWlr8s
  28. ↑ "Popular Science | Wise Guy". web.archive.org. Archived from the original on October 16, 2001. Retrieved 2015-09-02.
  29. ↑ "Image: MUTitle.jpg, (584 × 382 px)". megafoundation.org. Retrieved 2015-09-02.
  30. ↑ Dennis Brabham (21 August 2001). "The Smart Guy – Chris Langan is not your average genius" (PDF). Newsday.com. Retrieved 2015-09-02.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Monday, May 02, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.