← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Angler
Thread ID: 12447 | Posts: 7 | Started: 2004-02-22
2004-02-22 12:12 | User Profile
This guy might have a super-high IQ, but he sure doesn't act like it. In fact, after looking over some of his posts at another discussion board, it became apparent to me that he might be a kind of idiot savant. While he undoubtedly has computational and problem solving ability to spare in certain contexts (such as mathematics, I suppose), his arrogance, emotional incontinence, and lack of civility toward those who disagree with him is sickening. I realize that being smart and being a decent person are two separate things, but here's the kicker: Langan also appears to have fallen for the neocon lies that led to the invasion of Iraq.
Here's Mr. Smarty-Pants himself responding to someone who posted an article hostile to the Bush administration:
OK, genius. Most of us on this board are Americans. I find your pro-Hussein, pro-terrorist propaganda offensive as ten kinds of hell. So why not get off it before the crap starts to fly? Your remarks are obviously inflammatory, you're obviously trying to be hurtful and offensive toward the citizens of a country that's still trying to recover from a vicious act of premeditated terrorism, and you're behaving in a generally disgusting way. Time to take stock of yourself in light of your panentheistic creed and mend your ways.
Chris
[url]http://www.arn.org/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=12;t=000265;p=1[/url]
(Yes, I'm almost completely certain that that's really Langan.)
If this guy really does have a 195 IQ (that is, assuming he didn't somehow get hold of the tests and memorize the answers ahead of time), then perhaps he can be viewed as an example of how even the smartest people are capable of indulging in astonishingly stupid patterns of thought. Mr. Langan needs to pull his nose out of the books, pull his head out of his ass, and realize that he's been deceived just like all the other dummies out there.
:furious:
2004-02-22 14:20 | User Profile
I must be living in a cave. Never heard of him until now and after looking at that thread am not very impressed. He'd make a great "freeper" if he isn't one already.
Some folks with high I.Q.s don't have sense to pour piss out of a boot.
2004-02-22 15:26 | User Profile
It's not a matter of intelligence. Information (or in this case disinformation) may bypass the critical-thinking faculty.
2004-02-22 16:05 | User Profile
MW,
That's basically what I wrote. I just put it in a cruder way.
2004-02-22 17:06 | User Profile
You guys are right, of course. Not all people of high intelligence possess good habits of critical thinking, and many are ruled by their emotions. It's also possible that Langan pays little attention to national and world politics, thus leaving him without any means to see the larger picture. I wouldn't really hold his ignorance against him if not for the arrogance and abusiveness that he leveled at "mturner" on that forum. (BTW: I'm not "mturner" and I don't even know the guy, but it annoyed me to see someone who obviously has his head on straight taking abuse from a "large-mouthed ass.")
BTW, Sertorius: Langan isn't all that famous, so don't worry about not having heard of him. He's been featured on 20/20 and in a few magazines, but that hardly gives him the profile of Janet Jackson. Given Langan's FReeper-esque views, his relative obscurity seems like a good thing.
2004-02-23 21:09 | User Profile
Excellent point about creativity, AntiYuppie. The ability to "think outside the box" and view reality from unique perspectives is clearly a crucial aspect of true genius.
If one looks at Nobel Prize winners in a field such as physics, it's apparent that they all have pretty high IQs; but few, if any, have an IQ anywhere near as high as Langan's. What sets them and other great scientists, engineers, and inventors apart is almost certainly their creativity and inspiration (not to mention dedication, and perhaps a dash of luck also). This undoubtedly extends to the humanities as well.
2004-02-24 01:46 | User Profile
[QUOTE]If one looks at Nobel Prize winners in a field such as physics, it's apparent that they all have pretty high IQs; but few, if any, have an IQ anywhere near as high as Langan's.[/QUOTE] But that would most likely be due to the fact that so few people have an IQ that high, and not all of them go into fields such as physics. The number of humans with an IQ of 180+ is probably in three figures.
Here's a chart on rarity of IQ scores that posits a generous 16-point standard deviation and thus is applicable to the white population:
[url]http://www.eskimo.com/~miyaguch/combnorm.html[/url]