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Christopher Langan

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Christopher Michael Langan (born c. 1957) is an American autodidact whose IQ was reported by 20/20 and other media sources to have been measured at around 195.[1] Billed as possibly "the smartest man in America",[2] he rose to prominence in 1999 while working as a bouncer on Long Island. Langan is author of what he calls the "Cognitive-Theoretic Model of the Universe" or CTMU (pronounced "cat-mew"), and describes this as "essentially a theory of the relationship between mind and reality."[3][4]

Life

Langan was born in San Francisco and spent most of his early life in Montana.

Langan says he spent the last years of high school mostly in independent study, teaching himself "advanced math, physics, philosophy, Latin and Greek, all that".[5] After earning a perfect score on the SAT,[6] he tried college (Reed College and later Montana State University), but faced with finance and transportation problems, and believing that he "could literally teach [his professors] more than they could teach [him]", dropped out.[5]

He took a string of labor-intensive jobs, and by his mid-40s had been a construction worker, cowboy, forest service firefighter, farmhand, and for over twenty years, a bouncer on Long Island. He says 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.[5]

Wider attention came in 1999, when Esquire magazine published a profile of Langan and other members of the high-IQ community.[5] Billing Langan as "the smartest man in America", the article's account of the weight-lifting bouncer and his CTMU "Theory of Everything" sparked a flurry of media interest. Board-certified neuropsychologist Dr. Robert Novelly tested Langan's IQ for 20/20, which reported that Langan broke the ceiling of the test, scoring "off the charts". Novelly was said to be astounded, saying: "Chris is the highest individual that I have ever measured in 25 years of doing this."[6]

Articles and interviews highlighting Langan appeared in Popular Science,[7] The Times,[8] Newsday,[9] Muscle & Fitness (which reported that he could bench 500 pounds),[10] and elsewhere. Langan was featured on 20/20,[6] interviewed on BBC Radio[11] and on Errol Morris's First Person,[12] and participated in an online chat at ABCNEWS.com.[13] He has written question-and-answer columns for New York Newsday,[14] The Improper Hamptonian,[15] and Men's Fitness.[16]

In 2004, Langan moved with his wife Gina (née LoSasso), a clinical neuropsychologist, to northern Missouri, where he owns and operates a horse ranch.[17]

Ideas, affiliations, and publications

Langan's media exposure at the end of the 1990s invariably included some discussion of his "Cognitive-Theoretic Model of the Universe" (often referred to by Langan as "CTMU"), and he was reported by Popular Science in 2001 to be writing a book about his work called Design for a Universe.[7] He has 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"[10] and that his CTMU "explains the connection between mind and reality, ergo the presence of cognition and universe in the same phrase".[13] 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."[5] In conjunction with his ideas, Langan has claimed that "you can prove the existence of God, the soul and an afterlife, using mathematics."[6]

Langan is a fellow of the International Society for Complexity, Information and Design (ISCID),[18] a professional society which promotes intelligent design,[19] and has published a paper on his CTMU in the society's online journal Progress in Complexity, Information, and Design in 2002.[20] Later that year, he presented a lecture on his CTMU at ISCID's Research and Progress in Intelligent Design (RAPID) conference.[21] In 2004, Langan contributed a chapter to Uncommon Dissent, an essay collection of works that question Darwinian evolution edited by ISCID cofounder and leading intelligent design proponent William Dembski.[22]

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."[13]

Langan has said 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."[13] He calls himself "a respecter of all faiths, among peoples everywhere."[13]

References

  1. ^ For the 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. ^ 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".
  3. ^ CTMU Q & A - What is the CTMU?
  4. ^ Preston, Ray (November 15, 2006). "Meet the Smartest Man in America".
  5. ^ a b c d e Sager, Mike (November 1999). ""The Smartest Man in America"". Esquire.
  6. ^ a b c d McFadden, Cynthia. (December 9, 1999). "The Smart Guy". 20/20.
  7. ^ a b Quain, John R. (October 14, 2001). "Wise Guy" (Interview with Christopher Langan and Science Works in Mysterious Ways). Popular Science.
  8. ^ Wigmore, Barry. (February 7, 2000). "Einstein's brain, King Kong's body". The Times.
  9. ^ Brabham, Dennis. (August 21, 2001). "The Smart Guy". Newsday.
  10. ^ a b O'Connell, Jeff. (May 2001). "Mister Universe". Muscle & Fitness.
  11. ^ Fowler, Damien. (January 2000). Interview with Mega Foundation members. Outlook. BBC Radio.
  12. ^ Morris, Errol. (August 14, 2001). "The Smartest Man in the World". First Person.
  13. ^ a b c d e ABCNEWS.com Chat Transcript
  14. ^ Langan, Christopher M. (September 2001). Chris Langan answers your questions. New York Newsday. Melville, NY.
  15. ^ Langan, Christopher M. (2000-2001). HiQ. The Improper Hamptonian. Westhampton Beach, NY.
  16. ^ O'Connell, Jeff, Ed. (2004). World of knowledge: we harness the expertise of the brawny, the brainy, and the bearded to solve your most pressing dilemmas. Men's Fitness.
  17. ^ Preston, Ray (November 15, 2006). "Meet the Smartest Man in America".
  18. ^ ISCID fellows
  19. ^ "Intelligent Design and Peer Review". American Association for the Advancement of Science. Retrieved 2007-03-28. [T]he International Society for Complexity, Information, and Design (ISCID), which promotes intelligent design....
  20. ^ Langan, Christopher M. (2002). The Cognitive-Theoretic Model of the Universe: A New Kind of Reality Theory. Progress in Complexity, Information, and Design 1.2-1.3
  21. ^ RAPID conference schedule
  22. ^ Langan, Christopher M. (2004). Cheating the Millennium: The Mounting Explanatory Debts of Scientific Naturalism. In Uncommon Dissent: Intellectuals Who Find Darwinism Unconvincing, Wm. Dembski, Ed., Intercollegiate Studies Institute.
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