# chris langan **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 15, 2001, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chris-langan/87541 "2001-10-15T19:18:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![infinitii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e8c25b/32.png) [@infinitii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/infinitii)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2001, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chris-langan/87541/1 "2001-10-15T19:18:05Z")
I was just wondering what everyone thought of Chris Langan, often considered the smartest person in the world, (besides Uncle Cecil) and his “theory of everything”. I mean, I’m having a hard time understanding the theory, but the idea of a bouncer solving the greatest mystery of science today intrigues me. Here’s a link [http://www.megafoundation.org/GraphicSiteMap.html](http://www.megafoundation.org/GraphicSiteMap.html) ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2001, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chris-langan/87541/2 "2001-10-15T19:30:50Z")
Gag me with a spoon. :rolleyes: From the “text version”. [http://www.ultrahiq.net/History.html](http://www.ultrahiq.net/History.html) > [@](#): > > Soon, however, it became clear that a more worthwhile goal would be to help the “severely gifted,” who often fall through the cracks of an educational system which is unable to satisfy their rage to learn…a system. geared to the average student and often held to the pace of the slowest. That such people exist is beyond doubt; Christopher Langan, profiled in the November 1999 issue of Esquire magazine as “the smartest man in America,” provides an instructive example. After being failed by the academic bureaucracy, he had to satisfy his intellectual hunger in nearly total isolation from the wider intellectual community. Um. Normal people who are filled with intellectual hunger don’t usually have trouble satisfying that hunger within the wider intellectual community, and they are usually well-served by the academic bureaucracy. However, people who might fairly be characterized as “geeks” and “weirdos” frequently do have problems fitting in to the wider intellectual community, and isn’t it nice that they can set up their own non-profit foundations, with websites, where they can whine about how they feel rejected by mainstream academia? America, gotta love it… 😃 So, what exactly did you want to know, Infinitii? “Should I give him some money?” I dunno, it’s up to you. Personally, I think my dollars would be better spent by sending them to Miss Cleo, because at least she’s amusing and she doesn’t whine. ---
**Author:** ![infinitii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e8c25b/32.png) [@infinitii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/infinitii)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2001, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chris-langan/87541/3 "2001-10-15T19:33:30Z")
well, i wasn’t really talking about helping out his organization or anything, i was really just interested in his “theory of everything” that is also talked about on that site. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2001, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chris-langan/87541/4 "2001-10-15T19:37:38Z")
Life’s too short for me to dig through the entire website. Got a link to the page? And, what “greatest mystery of science” did he solve? Frankly, I never heard of the guy until now, although for some reason I’m flashing on Dilbert’s garbageman who invents things. 😃 And I always especially enjoy the “oh yeah? well, they laughed at Galileo, too!” party line, which is fairly common with this sort of terribly misunderstood yet brilliant square peg. [http://www.ultrahiq.net/History.html](http://www.ultrahiq.net/History.html) > [@](#): > > The greatest additions to the intellectual wealth of mankind are often the greatest departures from orthodoxy; yet, orthodoxy is the mainstay of educational bureaucracy. ---
**Author:** ![infinitii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e8c25b/32.png) [@infinitii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/infinitii)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2001, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chris-langan/87541/5 "2001-10-15T19:42:47Z")
[http://www.ctmu.org/](http://www.ctmu.org/) ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2001, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chris-langan/87541/6 "2001-10-15T20:02:13Z")
Golly. Well, the FAQ page says “coming soon”, so that’s out as a crib sheet. So I go to the Discussion page, and there’s this. [http://www.ultrahiq.net/UltraHIQ/Forums/CTMU/CTMUDiscussion.html](http://www.ultrahiq.net/UltraHIQ/Forums/CTMU/CTMUDiscussion.html) > [@](#): > > The idea that the universe created itself brings a whole new meaning to bidirectional time, and thus to the idea that cognition may play a role in the creation of reality. Well, in my Christian worldview, the idea that the universe created itself is nothing new, as the universe may be equated with “God”, and “God” must have created “Himself”, because if anyone had created Him, then that person would have been more powerful than God, and thus would _be_ God. So I’m saying that I don’t think that the bouncer with the high IQ has come up with anything new. Miss Cleo is still more fun. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Racer\_Named\_Fisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecc23a/32.png) [@Racer\_Named\_Fisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Racer_Named_Fisk)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2001, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chris-langan/87541/7 "2001-10-15T20:14:26Z")
> [@](#): > > orthodoxy is the mainstay of educational bureaucracy Duh. Does this guy know what “tautology” means? American heritage defines it as “Adhering to what is commonly accepted, customary, or traditional”. So there ---
**Author:** ![Racer\_Named\_Fisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecc23a/32.png) [@Racer\_Named\_Fisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Racer_Named_Fisk)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2001, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chris-langan/87541/8 "2001-10-15T20:16:28Z")
uh… defines “orthodox” that way, not tautology. Of course. Kinda removes some of the tangy zip from my point. Oh well. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2001, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chris-langan/87541/9 "2001-10-15T20:25:11Z")
A tautology is “a needless repetition of an idea, statement, or word”, and another way of saying “tautologous” is “redundant”. Yepperoonies, I think saying that “orthodoxy is the mainstay of bureaucracy” would qualify as a redundant, needless, tautology. 😃 [sub]but he was profiled by Esquire! He MUST be good![/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Chickenhead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7cd45c/32.png) [@Chickenhead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chickenhead)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2001, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chris-langan/87541/10 "2001-10-15T20:33:49Z")
But the smartest man in America has failed to internalize Style.