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'''Christopher Michael Langan''' (born c. 1957) is an [[United States|American]] blue-collar thinker whose [[IQ]] is reported by the media to have been measured at 195.<ref>Sager 1999, McFadden 1999, Fowler 2000, Wigmore 2000, O'Connell 2001, Brabham 2001, Quain 2001.</ref> Billed as possibly "the smartest man in America",<ref>Sager 1999, Fowler 2000, Wigmore 2000, Brabham 2001.</ref> he rose to prominence in 1999 while working as a [[Bouncer (doorman)|bouncer]] on [[Long Island]]. Langan is author of the Cognitive-Theoretic Model of the Universe or CTMU (pronounced "cat-mew"), among his claims for which are that it constitutes [[absolute truth]], provides the logical framework of a [[Theory of everything (philosophy)|theory of everything]], and proves the existence of [[God]]. |
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'''Christopher Michael Langan''' (born c. [[1957]]) is an [[United States|American]] [[Autodidacticism|autodidact]] who says that he taught himself mathematics, physics, cosmology and the cognitive sciences.<ref>[http://www.iscid.org/christopherlangan.php Biography, Christopher Langan] ISCID.</ref> Various media sources report Langan as having an estimated [[IQ]] of 195.<ref>Fowler, D. (2000). [http://www.megafoundation.org/Ubiquity/Fall00/BBC.html Interview with Mega Foundation] BBC Outlook. London: British Broadcasting Company.</ref><ref>Sager, Mike. (November, 1999) [http://www.megafoundation.org/CTMU/Press/Esquire1.jpg "The Smartest Man in America."] ''[[Esquire (magazine)|Esquire]]''.</ref><ref>Brabham, Dennis. (August 21, 2001). [http://www.megafoundation.org/CTMU/Press/TheSmartGuy.pdf "The Smart Guy"]. ''Newsday''.</ref><ref>Wigmore, Barry. ([[February 7]], [[2000]]). "Einstein's brain, King Kong's body". ''The Times''.</ref> According to ''[[20/20]]'', Langan scored "off the charts" when tested by Dr. Robert Novelly. Novelly, a board certified [[neuropsychologist]], commented that Langan was "the highest individual that I have ever measured in 25 years" of testing.<ref>McFadden, Cynthia. ([[December 9]], [[1999]]). [http://web.archive.org/web/20000818083819/http://www.abcnews.go.com/onair/2020/transcripts/2020_991209_iq_trans.html "The Smart Guy"]. ''20/20''</ref> Langan appeared in filmmaker [[Errol Morris]]' ''The Smartest Man in the World'' episode of the television documentary series "First Person."<ref>Morris, Errol. (August 14, 2001). [http://www.errolmorris.com/television/index.html "The Smartest Man in the World"]. [[Errol Morris#First Person|First Person]] </ref> Langan also appeared in one episode of [[Walker, Texas Ranger]].<ref>[http://us.imdb.com/name/nm1264508/ Chris Langan]] [[Internet Movie Database]].</ref> |
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==Life== |
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With only a small amount of college, Langan has held a variety of labor-intensive jobs including construction worker, cowboy, firefighter, farmhand, and perhaps most famously, [[doorman|bar bouncer]]. Langan, who grew up in Montana, currently owns and operates a horse ranch in northern Missouri. Langan has written question and answer columns for ''[[New York Newsday]]'',<ref>Langan, C M (2001), Chris Langan answers your questions. New York Newsday, September, 2001, Melville, NY</ref> The ''Improper Hamptonian''<ref>Langan, C M (2000-2001). HiQ. Improper Hamptonian. Westhampton Beach, NY</ref> and ''[[Men's Fitness]]''.<ref>O'Connell, J., Ed. (2004) [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1608/is_8_20/ai_n6226304 World of knowledge: we harness the expertise of the brawny, the brainy, and the bearded to solve your most pressing dilemmas]. Mens Fitness. </ref> In [[2001]] Langan was featured in ''[[Popular Science (magazine)|Popular Science]]'' magazine, where he discussed a concept he developed and promotes which he calls the "Cognitive-Theoretic Model of the Universe" (CTMU).<ref>Quain, John R. ([[October 14]], [[2001]]). [http://megafoundation.org/CTMU/Press/PopularScience/PopSciArt.pdf "Wise Guy"]. ''Popular Science''.</ref> |
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Langan was born in [[San Francisco]] but spent most of his early life in [[Montana]]. His mother was the daughter of a wealthy [[shipping]] executive but was cut off from her family; his father died or disappeared before he was born. Langan started talking at six months, taught himself to read at three years, and was skipped ahead in school. But he grew up in poverty and says he was beaten by his stepfather from when he was almost six to when he was about fourteen. By the end of that time, Langan had begun [[weight training]]. He recounted the result to [[Cynthia McFadden]] of ''[[20/20]]'':<ref name=McFadden/> |
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Langan and his wife Dr. Gina Langan (nee LoSasso) are both fellows of the [[International Society for Complexity, Information and Design]] (ISCID), a [[think tank]] of the [[intelligent design movement]].<ref>[http://www.iscid.org/fellows.php ISCID fellows]</ref> The ISCID's journal <cite>Progress in Complexity, Information, and Design</cite> published a paper in 2002 in which Langan explained his "Cognitive-Theoretic Model of the Universe".<ref>Langan, Christopher M. (2002). [http://www.iscid.org/pcid/2002/1/2-3/langan_ctmu.php The Cognitive-Theoretic Model of the Universe: A New Kind of Reality Theory]. ''Progress in Complexity, Information, and Design'' '''1.2-1.3'''</ref> Later that year, Langan presented a lecture on Cognitive-Theoretic Model of the Universe and intelligent design<ref>"The concept of teleology remains alive nonetheless, having recently been granted a scientific reprieve in the form of Intelligent Design theory. "ID theory" holds that the complexity of biological systems implies the involvement of empirically detectable intelligent causes in nature. Although the roots of ID theory can be traced back to theological arguments from design, it is explicitly scientific rather than theological in character, and has thus been presented on the same basis as any other scientific hypothesis awaiting scientific confirmation. |
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{{blockquote|McFADDEN What happened then? |
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Rather than confining itself to theological or teleological causation, ID theory technically allows for any kind of intelligent designer – a human being, an artificial intelligence, even sentient aliens. This reflects the idea that intelligence is a generic quality which leaves a signature identifiable by techniques already heavily employed in such fields as cryptography, anthropology, forensics and computer science." [http://www.ctmu.org/ CTMU.org] Christpher Langan, 2003</ref> at the ISCID's ''Research And Progress in Intelligent Design'' (RAPID) conference.<ref name="rapid_schedule">[http://www.iscid.org/rapid/schedule.html RAPID conference schedule]</ref> In 2004, Langan contributed a chapter to the book ''[[Uncommon Dissent]]'', a collection of essays by fellow intelligent design proponents and ISCID fellows edited by [[William Dembski]].<ref>Langan, Christopher M. (2004). [http://www.megafoundation.org/CTMU/Articles/CTM.htm Cheating the Millennium: The Mounting Explanatory Debts of Scientific Naturalism]. In ''[[Uncommon Dissent|Uncommon Dissent: Intellectuals Who Find Darwinism Unconvincing]]'', Wm. Dembski, Ed., Intercollegiate Studies Institute.</ref> In the chapter, Langan offers his opinion of both [[intelligent design]] and the [[modern evolutionary synthesis]] and proposes a synthesis by means of his idea, the "Cognitive-Theoretic Model of the Universe" (CTMU). He explains it as follows on his website: |
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<p>Mr. LANGAN Well, he came into the room one morning and hit me across the eyes with a garrison belt. So I beat the hell out of him and told him never to come back. |
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<p>McFADDEN And he didn’t. |
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In 2002 the owners of the Mega Society, a [[high IQ society]], filed suit against Langan and his wife, Gina LoSasso, for unauthorized use of the society's [[trademark]]s and [[trade name]]s.<ref name="sd_court">[http://www.sandiego.courts.ca.gov/CISPublic/casedetail?casenum=GIC787630&casesite=SD&applcode=C View Case Detail - MEGA SOCIETY vs LANGAN] Superior Court of California, County of San Diego.</ref><ref>[http://www.megasociety.org/noesis/153/repllos.html Reply to Gina LoSasso] Kevin Langdon. Mega Society, July 15 2001.</ref><ref>[http://www.megasociety.org/noesis/153/index.html Special Issue: Kevin Langdon Replies to Chris Langan and Gina LoSasso] Kevin Langdon. Noesis, The Journal of the Mega Society, Number 153, July 2001.</ref> The Langans had been active members of the society but in October 1997 left the organization and formed their own competing organization, the similarly named ''Mega Society-East'', ''Mega Society-East Coast Faction'' and ''Noesis-E''. The owners of the Mega Society contended that the Langan's use of the Mega Society name for the purpose of an organization with policies and purposes similar to that of their own constituted [[bad faith]],<ref name="arb_decision">[http://www.arbforum.com/domains/decisions/215404.htm Decision] The Mega Society v. Dr. Gina Lynne LoSasso d/b/a Mega Foundation. Claim Number: FA0312000215404. National Arbitration Forum, January 2004</ref> and sought relief in the courts after negotiations with Langan proved fruitless.<ref name="court_judgment">[http://www.megasociety.org/judgment.html Judgment] Superior Court for the State of California, County of San Diego, March 2003.</ref> |
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<p>Mr. LANGAN He didn’t.}} |
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The litigation brought against the Langans resulted in a California Superior Court issuing a ruling enjoining the Langans from any use of the Mega Society name and trademark.<ref name="court_judgment"/><ref name="sd_court"/> Also challenged was the Langans use of the [[domain name]]s "megasociety.net" and "megasociety.com" which had been registered by Langan's wife in her name. A National Arbitration Forum ruling forced the Langans to release the domains to the Mega Society.<ref name="arb_decision"/> During the course of the imbroglio Mega Society member Ian Goddard alleged that Langan's wife attributed Goddard's work on the Mega Society web site to her husband as his (Langan's) original work.<ref>[http://users.erols.com/igoddard/langan.htm Syndiffeonesis] Ian Goddard.</ref> |
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He earned a reputation as a tough guy, and closed out his high school years doing mostly independent study: "[T]hey didn't know what to teach me anymore, but nobody was going to take me out and put me in college on the fast track, so I just did what they told me. I went to study hall and worked on my own, taught myself advanced math, physics, philosophy, Latin and Greek, all that."<ref name=Sager/> After earning a perfect score on the [[SAT]],<ref name=McFadden/> he tried college ([[Reed College]] and later [[Montana State University]]), but dropped out due to finance and transportation problems, as well as to intellectual discontent, explaining to ''Esquire'': "There I was, paying my own money, taking classes from people who were obviously my intellectual inferiors. I just figured, Hey, I need this like a moose needs a hat rack!"<ref name=Sager/> |
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After the California Superior Court ruling and release of domain names to the Mega Society, the Langans, having retained the domains ''megafoundation.net'' and ''megafoundation.org'', renamed their organization the ''Mega Foundation'' and its journal ''Noeon''.<ref name="arb_decision"/> |
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Langan took a string of labor-intensive jobs, and by his mid-40s had been a construction worker, cowboy, [[United States Forest Service|forest service]] firefighter, farmhand, and for over twenty years, a bouncer on Long Island. He developed a "double-life strategy": "On one side, you're a regular guy. You go to work, you do your job, you exchange pleasantries. On the other side, you come home and you begin doing equations in your head."<ref name=Sager/> |
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In this way, working in isolation, he created the CTMU, his philosophical theory of the relationship between mind and reality. Wider attention came in 1999, when ''Esquire'' magazine published a profile of Langan and other members of the [[high IQ society|high-IQ community]].<ref name=Sager>Sager, Mike. (November 1999). [http://www.megafoundation.org/CTMU/Press/Esquire1.jpg "The Smartest Man in America"]. ''Esquire''.</ref> Billing Langan as "the smartest man in America", the article's account of the weight-lifting bouncer and his "Theory of Everything" sparked a flurry of media interest. Articles and interviews highlighting Langan appeared in ''Popular Science'',<ref name=Quain>Quain, John R. ([[October 14]], [[2001]]). "Wise Guy" ([http://web.archive.org/web/20011016032915/www.popsci.com/science/01/10/14/brainiac/index.html] [[http://web.archive.org/web/20011015141736/www.popsci.com/science/01/10/14/brainiac/index2.html]). ''Popular Science''.</ref> ''The Times'',<ref>Wigmore, Barry. ([[February 7]], [[2000]]). "Einstein's brain, King Kong's body". ''The Times''.</ref> ''Newsday'',<ref>Brabham, Dennis. ([[August 21]], [[2001]]). [http://www.megafoundation.org/CTMU/Press/TheSmartGuy.pdf "The Smart Guy"]. ''Newsday''.</ref> ''Muscle & Fitness'' (which reported that he could [[Bench press|bench]] 500 pounds),<ref>O'Connell, Jeff. (May 2001). [http://www.megafoundation.org/CTMU/Press/MrUniverse/MUTitle.jpg "Mister Universe"]. ''Muscle & Fitness''.</ref> and elsewhere. Langan was featured on ''20/20'',<ref name=McFadden>McFadden, Cynthia. ([[December 9]], [[1999]]). [http://web.archive.org/web/20000818083819/http://www.abcnews.go.com/onair/2020/transcripts/2020_991209_iq_trans.html "The Smart Guy"]. ''20/20''.</ref> interviewed on [[BBC Radio]]<ref>Fowler, Damien. (January 2000). [http://www.megafoundation.org/Ubiquity/Fall00/BBC.html Interview with Mega Foundation members]. ''Outlook''. BBC Radio.</ref> and on [[Errol Morris]]'s ''First Person'',<ref>Morris, Errol. ([[August 14]], [[2001]]). [http://www.errolmorris.com/television/index.html "The Smartest Man in the World"]. ''First Person''.</ref> and appeared in an episode of [[Walker, Texas Ranger]].<ref>[http://us.imdb.com/name/nm1264508/ Chris Langan]. [[Internet Movie Database]].</ref> He has written question-and-answer columns for ''[[New York Newsday]]'',<ref>Langan, Christopher M. (September 2001). Chris Langan answers your questions. ''New York Newsday''. Melville, NY.</ref> ''The Improper Hamptonian'',<ref>Langan, Christopher M. (2000-2001). HiQ. ''The Improper Hamptonian''. Westhampton Beach, NY.</ref> and ''[[Men's Fitness]]''.<ref>O'Connell, Jeff, Ed. (2004). [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1608/is_8_20/ai_n6226304 World of knowledge: we harness the expertise of the brawny, the brainy, and the bearded to solve your most pressing dilemmas]. ''Men's Fitness.''</ref> |
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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."<ref name=McFadden/> |
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Langan is a co-founder and the Chairman of the Mega Foundation, a non-profit corporation established in 1999 to create and implement programs that aid in the development of severely gifted individuals and their ideas. Among the foundation's programs is the Ultranet, an online high-IQ group designed to serve as a mutual support system and forum for exchange of information and development of novel ideas, with a focus on creative actualization and meaningful production. |
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Langan moved in 2004 with his wife Gina (née LoSasso), a [[clinical neuropsychologist]], to northern [[Missouri]], where he owns and operates a horse [[ranch]]. |
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==Cognitive-Theoretic Model of the Universe== |
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Langan created the CTMU in the mid-1980s while working as a nightclub bouncer on Long Island. His first paper on the theory, "The Resolution of Newcomb's Paradox", appeared in the December 1989–January 1990 issue of ''Noesis'', the journal of the Noetic Society, a [[high-IQ society]] to which Langan belonged.<ref>Langan, Christopher M. (December 1989–January 1990). "The Resolution of Newcomb's Paradox." ''Noesis'' No. 44.</ref> Since then Langan has refined his work, continuing to publish and discuss it in high-IQ journals and elsewhere, and has written an unpublished book about the CTMU called ''Design for a Universe''.<ref name=Quain/> Though the recipient of mass-media attention, including a description in ''Popular Science'', Langan's work has not appeared in mainstream [[academic journal]]s. |
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The CTMU is a philosophical, [[metaphysics|metaphysical]] theory of the relationship between [[mind]] and [[reality]]. Langan contends that to answer questions about the [[laws of nature]] like where in reality they reside, how they might be expressed and implemented, why and how they came to be, and how their consistency and universality are maintained, science alone is logically inadequate, and that a new explanatory framework is required.<ref>Langan 2002, p. 3.</ref> Unlike scientific theories, which rely on observation to establish their correspondence with reality, the CTMU is intended to correspond with reality necessarily, by reliance on pure logic and [[metalogic]]. In fact, claims Langan, "any other [[valid]] theory of reality will necessarily equate to the CTMU up to [[isomorphism]]; whatever it adds will come by way of specificity, not generality".<ref>Langan 2002, p. 53, n. 6.</ref> The CTMU relates logic to reality using three metalogical principles associated with comprehensiveness, consistency, and closure, themselves, he argues, necessarily [[model theory|modeled]] by reality as a condition of its existence.<ref>Langan 2002, p. 15.</ref> |
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In the CTMU, reality takes the form of an [[algebraic structure]] Langan calls a "Self-Configuring Self-Processing Language" or SCSPL.<ref>Langan 2002, pp. 42–47.</ref> The fundamental objects are "syntactic operators", units of self-processing information or "infocognition".<ref>Langan 2002, p. 20.</ref> SCSPL reality embodies a [[dual-aspect monism]] consisting of one substance (infocognition) with two aspects ([[information]] and [[cognition]]). The CTMU therefore supports a kind of [[panpsychism]]. Although every part of SCSPL has a cognitive aspect, the mental capabilities of a given subsystem depend on its structure, and Langan distinguishes several "levels of self-cognition".<ref>Langan 2002, p. 33.</ref> The highest of these is the global level, that of reality as a whole. This level, he says, possesses three formal properties of SCSPL: "syntactic self-distribution" (analogous to [[omnipresence]]), "perfect autotransductive reflexivity" (analogous to [[omniscience]]), and "self-configuration up to freedom" (analogous to [[omnipotence]]). Because these are [[theological]] attributes, Langan describes reality as "the mind of God". So, claims Langan, by logical and mathematical reasoning from necessary metalogical principles, the CTMU proves the existence of God.<ref>Langan 2002, p. 38, 52; Langan, Christopher M. (1999). [http://www.ctmu.org/Articles/IntroCTMU.htm "Introduction to the CTMU"]. ''Ubiquity'' Vol. 1, No. 1.</ref> |
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According to Langan, the CTMU blends elements of various branches of advanced mathematics, including [[category theory]], [[model theory]], [[computation theory]], [[abstract algebra]], and the logic of [[formal theory|formalized theories]]. Langan's public writings are meant to be relatively accessible, and for that reason, he says, tend to avoid heavy use of symbolic notation in favor of informal characterization. Nonetheless, he claims, the CTMU is [[axiomatizable]] and [[formalizable]], and SCSPL is [[well-defined]]. |
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Langan and his wife are fellows of the International Society for Complexity, Information and Design (ISCID),<ref>[http://www.iscid.org/fellows.php ISCID fellows]</ref> a [[professional society]] whose stated purpose is to investigate [[complex systems]] using information- and design-theoretic concepts. The ISCID promotes [[intelligent design]], the controversial idea that there is scientific evidence for design in life. In 2002, Langan published in the society's online journal a 56-page paper, "The Cognitive-Theoretic Model of the Universe: A New Kind of Reality Theory".<ref>Langan, Christopher M. (2002). [http://www.iscid.org/pcid/2002/1/2-3/langan_ctmu.php The Cognitive-Theoretic Model of the Universe: A New Kind of Reality Theory]. ''Progress in Complexity, Information, and Design'' '''1.2-1.3'''.</ref> Later that year, Langan gave a twenty-minute talk with the same title at the ISCID's Research and Progress in Intelligent Design (RAPID) conference.<ref>[http://www.iscid.org/rapid/schedule.html RAPID conference schedule]</ref> In 2004, Langan contributed a chapter to the book ''Uncommon Dissent'',<ref>Langan, Christopher M. (2004). [http://www.megafoundation.org/CTMU/Articles/CTM.htm "Cheating the Millennium: The Mounting Explanatory Debts of Scientific Naturalism"]. In ''[[Uncommon Dissent|Uncommon Dissent: Intellectuals Who Find Darwinism Unconvincing]]'', edited by William Dembski. ISI Books.</ref> a collection of essays edited by [[William Dembski]] and whose authors include leading figures in the [[intelligent design movement]]. |
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The CTMU says that reality's self-selection amounts to "intelligent self-design"—that reality intelligently designs itself, evolving by purposeful self-replication and self-selection from a background of unbound potential.<ref>Langan 2002, p. 50.</ref> In ''Uncommon Dissent'', Langan argues that [[neo-Darwinism]] and intelligent design theory, as theories of biological origins and evolution and therefore of biological [[causality]], ultimately require a model of nature and causality accounting for the laws of nature and their role in natural processes. He contends that both neo-Darwinism and ID theory are currently deficient in this regard, and describes what he sees as a number of problems with the causality concept itself. As a solution to these problems and a model of nature and causality, he proposes SCSPL and the CTMU. The CTMU, he says, synthesizes neo-Darwinism and ID theory, providing a reconciliatory framework in which teleology and evolution co-exist in a new approach to biological origins and evolution he calls "Teleologic Evolution". |
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Asked about [[creationism]], Langan has said: |
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⚫ | {{blockquote|Regarding evolution and creationism, the linkage is simple: since Biblical accounts of the genesis of our world and species are true but metaphorical, our task is to correctly decipher the metaphor in light of scientific evidence also given to us by God. Hence, the CTMU. <ref>[http://megafoundation.org/CTMU/Q&A/Archive.html#God CTMU Q & A - More on God]</ref> |
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<p>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.<ref name=ABC_Chat>[http://web.archive.org/web/20000816004851/www.abcnews.go.com/onair/2020/2020_991210_iq_chat.html ABCNEWS.com Chat Transcript]</ref>}} |
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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." He calls himself "a respecter of all faiths, among peoples everywhere."<ref name=ABC_Chat/> |
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The Mega Society, a [[high-IQ society]] whose admission requirement is an intelligence score at the one-in-a-million level, was founded in 1982 and once numbered about two dozen members.<ref>[http://megasociety.org/about.html About the Mega Society]</ref> In 1997, following a seven-month lapse in publication of its journal ''Noesis'' and unsuccessful attempts to contact the society's officers, Langan, a longtime member and previous editor of the journal, began publishing new issues himself. Because he lived in [[New York]] and the officers lived in [[California]], he labeled his edition ''Noesis East'', and his end of the society the "East Coast Faction". In 2001, in affiliation with the Mega Foundation, he launched a distinct high-IQ society, the Mega Society East, with an electronic journal, ''Noesis-E''.<ref>For background, see [http://megasociety.org ''Noesis'' 152–154].</ref> |
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In 2002 the Mega Society filed suit against Langan in a California [[Superior Court]],<ref name="sd_court">[http://www.sandiego.courts.ca.gov/CISPublic/casedetail?casenum=GIC787630&casesite=SD&applcode=C View Case Detail - MEGA SOCIETY vs LANGAN] Superior Court of California, County of San Diego.</ref> which issued a [[default judgment]] enjoining him and anyone acting in concert with him from using the society's [[trademarks]] and [[trade name]]s.<ref name="court_judgment">[http://www.megasociety.org/judgment.html Judgment] Superior Court for the State of California, County of San Diego, March 2003.</ref> The next year the society submitted a complaint to the [[National Arbitration Forum]] seeking five "mega" [[domain names]] registered by Langan's wife, contending that her use of those names for the purpose of a business with policies and purposes similar to that of the Mega Society constituted bad faith. She contended in response that there is a clear distinction between "The Mega Foundation" and "The Mega Society", and that the complainant's conduct was nothing more than attempted [[reverse domain name hijacking]]. The Forum ordered the transfer of megasociety.net and megasociety.com, but made no order with respect to megafoundation.net, megafoundation.org, and megacenter.org.<ref name="arb_decision">[http://www.arbforum.com/domains/decisions/215404.htm Decision] The Mega Society v. Dr. Gina Lynne LoSasso d/b/a Mega Foundation. Claim Number: FA0312000215404. National Arbitration Forum, January 2004.</ref> |
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The Mega Foundation's "Mega International Web Complex" is currently home to, among other programs and projects, Mega International, a "5-sigma international think tank", and ''Noeon'', a "newsletter and interdisciplinary journal".<ref>[http://www.megafoundation.org/framepages/about.htm Mega International Web Complex]</ref> |
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In a separate incident in 2002, Ian Goddard, a contributor to ''Noesis-E'', contested priority in an [[Internet forum]] over Langan's concept of "syndiffeonesis". Langan's wife, the Executive Editor of ''Noesis-E'', then inserted a citation of prior work by Langan into an essay by Goddard in that journal, to which Goddard objected.<ref>[http://users.erols.com/igoddard/langan.htm Syndiffeonesis, its Original Definition] Ian Goddard.</ref> |
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==References== |
==References== |
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==External links== |
==External links== |
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*[http://www.megafoundation.org/ |
*[http://www.megafoundation.org/ Mega Foundation] official site |
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*[http://www.ctmu.org/ |
*[http://www.ctmu.org/ Cognitive-Theoretic Model of the Universe] official site |
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*[http://www.iscid.org/christopherlangan.php Christopher Langan] biography at ISCID |
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*{{PDFlink|[http://megafoundation.org/CTMU/Press/PopularScience/PopSciInt.pdf Popular Science article (Interview)]}} |
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*{{PDFlink|[http://megafoundation.org/CTMU/Press/PopularScience/PopSciArt.pdf Popular Science article (Cognitive-Theoretic Model of the Universe)]}} |
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*{{PDFlink|[http://megafoundation.org/CTMU/Articles/Langan_CTMU_092902.pdf Langan's paper in Progress in Complexity, Information and Design]}} |
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[[Category:American people|Langan, Christoper Michael]] |
[[Category:American people|Langan, Christoper Michael]] |
Revision as of 21:43, 1 February 2007
Christopher Michael Langan (born c. 1957) is an American blue-collar thinker whose IQ is reported by the media to have been measured at 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 the Cognitive-Theoretic Model of the Universe or CTMU (pronounced "cat-mew"), among his claims for which are that it constitutes absolute truth, provides the logical framework of a theory of everything, and proves the existence of God.
Life
Langan was born in San Francisco but spent most of his early life in Montana. His mother was the daughter of a wealthy shipping executive but was cut off from her family; his father died or disappeared before he was born. Langan started talking at six months, taught himself to read at three years, and was skipped ahead in school. But he grew up in poverty and says he was beaten by his stepfather from when he was almost six to when he was about fourteen. By the end of that time, Langan had begun weight training. He recounted the result to Cynthia McFadden of 20/20:[3]
McFADDEN What happened then?
Mr. LANGAN Well, he came into the room one morning and hit me across the eyes with a garrison belt. So I beat the hell out of him and told him never to come back.
McFADDEN And he didn’t.
Mr. LANGAN He didn’t.
He earned a reputation as a tough guy, and closed out his high school years doing mostly independent study: "[T]hey didn't know what to teach me anymore, but nobody was going to take me out and put me in college on the fast track, so I just did what they told me. I went to study hall and worked on my own, taught myself advanced math, physics, philosophy, Latin and Greek, all that."[4] After earning a perfect score on the SAT,[3] he tried college (Reed College and later Montana State University), but dropped out due to finance and transportation problems, as well as to intellectual discontent, explaining to Esquire: "There I was, paying my own money, taking classes from people who were obviously my intellectual inferiors. I just figured, Hey, I need this like a moose needs a hat rack!"[4]
Langan 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 developed a "double-life strategy": "On one side, you're a regular guy. You go to work, you do your job, you exchange pleasantries. On the other side, you come home and you begin doing equations in your head."[4]
In this way, working in isolation, he created the CTMU, his philosophical theory of the relationship between mind and reality. Wider attention came in 1999, when Esquire magazine published a profile of Langan and other members of the high-IQ community.[4] Billing Langan as "the smartest man in America", the article's account of the weight-lifting bouncer and his "Theory of Everything" sparked a flurry of media interest. Articles and interviews highlighting Langan appeared in Popular Science,[5] The Times,[6] Newsday,[7] Muscle & Fitness (which reported that he could bench 500 pounds),[8] and elsewhere. Langan was featured on 20/20,[3] interviewed on BBC Radio[9] and on Errol Morris's First Person,[10] and appeared in an episode of Walker, Texas Ranger.[11] He has written question-and-answer columns for New York Newsday,[12] The Improper Hamptonian,[13] and Men's Fitness.[14]
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."[3]
Langan is a co-founder and the Chairman of the Mega Foundation, a non-profit corporation established in 1999 to create and implement programs that aid in the development of severely gifted individuals and their ideas. Among the foundation's programs is the Ultranet, an online high-IQ group designed to serve as a mutual support system and forum for exchange of information and development of novel ideas, with a focus on creative actualization and meaningful production.
Langan moved in 2004 with his wife Gina (née LoSasso), a clinical neuropsychologist, to northern Missouri, where he owns and operates a horse ranch.
Cognitive-Theoretic Model of the Universe
Langan created the CTMU in the mid-1980s while working as a nightclub bouncer on Long Island. His first paper on the theory, "The Resolution of Newcomb's Paradox", appeared in the December 1989–January 1990 issue of Noesis, the journal of the Noetic Society, a high-IQ society to which Langan belonged.[15] Since then Langan has refined his work, continuing to publish and discuss it in high-IQ journals and elsewhere, and has written an unpublished book about the CTMU called Design for a Universe.[5] Though the recipient of mass-media attention, including a description in Popular Science, Langan's work has not appeared in mainstream academic journals.
The CTMU is a philosophical, metaphysical theory of the relationship between mind and reality. Langan contends that to answer questions about the laws of nature like where in reality they reside, how they might be expressed and implemented, why and how they came to be, and how their consistency and universality are maintained, science alone is logically inadequate, and that a new explanatory framework is required.[16] Unlike scientific theories, which rely on observation to establish their correspondence with reality, the CTMU is intended to correspond with reality necessarily, by reliance on pure logic and metalogic. In fact, claims Langan, "any other valid theory of reality will necessarily equate to the CTMU up to isomorphism; whatever it adds will come by way of specificity, not generality".[17] The CTMU relates logic to reality using three metalogical principles associated with comprehensiveness, consistency, and closure, themselves, he argues, necessarily modeled by reality as a condition of its existence.[18]
In the CTMU, reality takes the form of an algebraic structure Langan calls a "Self-Configuring Self-Processing Language" or SCSPL.[19] The fundamental objects are "syntactic operators", units of self-processing information or "infocognition".[20] SCSPL reality embodies a dual-aspect monism consisting of one substance (infocognition) with two aspects (information and cognition). The CTMU therefore supports a kind of panpsychism. Although every part of SCSPL has a cognitive aspect, the mental capabilities of a given subsystem depend on its structure, and Langan distinguishes several "levels of self-cognition".[21] The highest of these is the global level, that of reality as a whole. This level, he says, possesses three formal properties of SCSPL: "syntactic self-distribution" (analogous to omnipresence), "perfect autotransductive reflexivity" (analogous to omniscience), and "self-configuration up to freedom" (analogous to omnipotence). Because these are theological attributes, Langan describes reality as "the mind of God". So, claims Langan, by logical and mathematical reasoning from necessary metalogical principles, the CTMU proves the existence of God.[22]
According to Langan, the CTMU blends elements of various branches of advanced mathematics, including category theory, model theory, computation theory, abstract algebra, and the logic of formalized theories. Langan's public writings are meant to be relatively accessible, and for that reason, he says, tend to avoid heavy use of symbolic notation in favor of informal characterization. Nonetheless, he claims, the CTMU is axiomatizable and formalizable, and SCSPL is well-defined.
Intelligent design
Langan and his wife are fellows of the International Society for Complexity, Information and Design (ISCID),[23] a professional society whose stated purpose is to investigate complex systems using information- and design-theoretic concepts. The ISCID promotes intelligent design, the controversial idea that there is scientific evidence for design in life. In 2002, Langan published in the society's online journal a 56-page paper, "The Cognitive-Theoretic Model of the Universe: A New Kind of Reality Theory".[24] Later that year, Langan gave a twenty-minute talk with the same title at the ISCID's Research and Progress in Intelligent Design (RAPID) conference.[25] In 2004, Langan contributed a chapter to the book Uncommon Dissent,[26] a collection of essays edited by William Dembski and whose authors include leading figures in the intelligent design movement.
The CTMU says that reality's self-selection amounts to "intelligent self-design"—that reality intelligently designs itself, evolving by purposeful self-replication and self-selection from a background of unbound potential.[27] In Uncommon Dissent, Langan argues that neo-Darwinism and intelligent design theory, as theories of biological origins and evolution and therefore of biological causality, ultimately require a model of nature and causality accounting for the laws of nature and their role in natural processes. He contends that both neo-Darwinism and ID theory are currently deficient in this regard, and describes what he sees as a number of problems with the causality concept itself. As a solution to these problems and a model of nature and causality, he proposes SCSPL and the CTMU. The CTMU, he says, synthesizes neo-Darwinism and ID theory, providing a reconciliatory framework in which teleology and evolution co-exist in a new approach to biological origins and evolution he calls "Teleologic Evolution".
Asked about creationism, Langan has said:
Regarding evolution and creationism, the linkage is simple: since Biblical accounts of the genesis of our world and species are true but metaphorical, our task is to correctly decipher the metaphor in light of scientific evidence also given to us by God. Hence, the CTMU. [28]
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.[29]
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." He calls himself "a respecter of all faiths, among peoples everywhere."[29]
Mega Society
The Mega Society, a high-IQ society whose admission requirement is an intelligence score at the one-in-a-million level, was founded in 1982 and once numbered about two dozen members.[30] In 1997, following a seven-month lapse in publication of its journal Noesis and unsuccessful attempts to contact the society's officers, Langan, a longtime member and previous editor of the journal, began publishing new issues himself. Because he lived in New York and the officers lived in California, he labeled his edition Noesis East, and his end of the society the "East Coast Faction". In 2001, in affiliation with the Mega Foundation, he launched a distinct high-IQ society, the Mega Society East, with an electronic journal, Noesis-E.[31]
In 2002 the Mega Society filed suit against Langan in a California Superior Court,[32] which issued a default judgment enjoining him and anyone acting in concert with him from using the society's trademarks and trade names.[33] The next year the society submitted a complaint to the National Arbitration Forum seeking five "mega" domain names registered by Langan's wife, contending that her use of those names for the purpose of a business with policies and purposes similar to that of the Mega Society constituted bad faith. She contended in response that there is a clear distinction between "The Mega Foundation" and "The Mega Society", and that the complainant's conduct was nothing more than attempted reverse domain name hijacking. The Forum ordered the transfer of megasociety.net and megasociety.com, but made no order with respect to megafoundation.net, megafoundation.org, and megacenter.org.[34]
The Mega Foundation's "Mega International Web Complex" is currently home to, among other programs and projects, Mega International, a "5-sigma international think tank", and Noeon, a "newsletter and interdisciplinary journal".[35]
In a separate incident in 2002, Ian Goddard, a contributor to Noesis-E, contested priority in an Internet forum over Langan's concept of "syndiffeonesis". Langan's wife, the Executive Editor of Noesis-E, then inserted a citation of prior work by Langan into an essay by Goddard in that journal, to which Goddard objected.[36]
References
- ^ Sager 1999, McFadden 1999, Fowler 2000, Wigmore 2000, O'Connell 2001, Brabham 2001, Quain 2001.
- ^ Sager 1999, Fowler 2000, Wigmore 2000, Brabham 2001.
- ^ a b c d McFadden, Cynthia. (December 9, 1999). "The Smart Guy". 20/20.
- ^ a b c d Sager, Mike. (November 1999). "The Smartest Man in America". Esquire.
- ^ a b Quain, John R. (October 14, 2001). "Wise Guy" ([1] [[2]). Popular Science.
- ^ Wigmore, Barry. (February 7, 2000). "Einstein's brain, King Kong's body". The Times.
- ^ Brabham, Dennis. (August 21, 2001). "The Smart Guy". Newsday.
- ^ O'Connell, Jeff. (May 2001). "Mister Universe". Muscle & Fitness.
- ^ Fowler, Damien. (January 2000). Interview with Mega Foundation members. Outlook. BBC Radio.
- ^ Morris, Errol. (August 14, 2001). "The Smartest Man in the World". First Person.
- ^ Chris Langan. Internet Movie Database.
- ^ Langan, Christopher M. (September 2001). Chris Langan answers your questions. New York Newsday. Melville, NY.
- ^ Langan, Christopher M. (2000-2001). HiQ. The Improper Hamptonian. Westhampton Beach, NY.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Langan, Christopher M. (December 1989–January 1990). "The Resolution of Newcomb's Paradox." Noesis No. 44.
- ^ Langan 2002, p. 3.
- ^ Langan 2002, p. 53, n. 6.
- ^ Langan 2002, p. 15.
- ^ Langan 2002, pp. 42–47.
- ^ Langan 2002, p. 20.
- ^ Langan 2002, p. 33.
- ^ Langan 2002, p. 38, 52; Langan, Christopher M. (1999). "Introduction to the CTMU". Ubiquity Vol. 1, No. 1.
- ^ ISCID fellows
- ^ 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.
- ^ RAPID conference schedule
- ^ Langan, Christopher M. (2004). "Cheating the Millennium: The Mounting Explanatory Debts of Scientific Naturalism". In Uncommon Dissent: Intellectuals Who Find Darwinism Unconvincing, edited by William Dembski. ISI Books.
- ^ Langan 2002, p. 50.
- ^ CTMU Q & A - More on God
- ^ a b ABCNEWS.com Chat Transcript
- ^ About the Mega Society
- ^ For background, see Noesis 152–154.
- ^ View Case Detail - MEGA SOCIETY vs LANGAN Superior Court of California, County of San Diego.
- ^ Judgment Superior Court for the State of California, County of San Diego, March 2003.
- ^ Decision The Mega Society v. Dr. Gina Lynne LoSasso d/b/a Mega Foundation. Claim Number: FA0312000215404. National Arbitration Forum, January 2004.
- ^ Mega International Web Complex
- ^ Syndiffeonesis, its Original Definition Ian Goddard.
External links
- Mega Foundation official site
- Cognitive-Theoretic Model of the Universe official site
- Christopher Langan biography at ISCID