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This Christian computer scientist and chess genius has given his life’s work to trying to solve P versus NP, also known as complexity theory—one of the great conundrums of mathematics. |
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From senior staff writer Emily Belz: Over the last decade, I’ve stumbled into reporting on the professional chess world here and there. Reporting on it led me to Kenneth Regan, a high-level chess player and theoretical mathematician who is also a Christian. |
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Both elite-chess and theoretical-math fields are made up of very smart people, and in both arenas I can easily feel that I am out of my depth. Regan says he is “conversational but not fluent” in German, Spanish, Italian, and French and speaks some Russian, Hungarian, and Swedish as well. |
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To write about someone with that brilliant of a mind, I felt like I had to have a basic grasp of the ideas he brought up in our conversation at a diner in New York. Because he is a professor, Regan was good at explaining concepts—but he normally works with computer science students, not a journalist who topped out in high school math. P versus NP is a central math problem we talked through, and I tried to simplify how a mathematician would describe it without mischaracterizing a complex idea. Simplifying without mischaracterizing is one of the central problems for a journalist. Maybe it’s journalists’ version of P versus NP! |
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August Is Make-A-Will Month!
Need to create or update your will but not sure where to start? Christianity Today has a trusted partnership with PhilanthroCorp, a Christian charitable will and estate planning firm, to provide you with free, no obligation, and confidential help based on your needs, values, and financial situation. |
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1. A representative contacts you to arrange a phone appointment. |
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2. On your first call, you answer basic questions for the estate planning specialist to learn how to best serve you. Additional calls are scheduled as needed. |
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3. You are given a plan for your attorney to draft final legal documents or PhilanthroCorp can refer you to an attorney in their network at reduced rates. |
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Today in Christian History |
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August 15, 1096: The First Crusade sets out from Europe to "rescue"Jerusalem from the Muslim Turks (see issue 40: The Crusades). |
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On a recent overcast Sunday, a 70-year-old Taiwanese American man in a suit rose to his feet to worship in a high school auditorium in Torrance, California. Standing next to…
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Around a hundred years ago, America’s pastors received a curious invitation. A prominent national organization proposed putting their pulpit skills to the test. But the judges wouldn’t reward displays of…
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Painting beneath the shifting lights of southern France, artist Paul Cézanne repeatedly turned to a simple composition: a still life with a bowl of fruit. The fruit, he observed, was…
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Brother Andrew once famously asked God to close a guard’s eyes so he could slip Bibles illegally over a border. Then he spent decades working to open Christians’s eyes to…
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As developments in artificial intelligence change daily, we’re increasingly asking what makes humanity different from the machines we use. In this issue, Emily Belz introduces us to tech workers on the frontlines of AI development, Harvest Prude explains how algorithms affect Christian courtship, and Miroslav Volf writes on the transhumanist question. Several writers call our attention to the gifts of being human: Haejin and Makoto Fujimura point us to beauty and justice, Kelly Kapic reminds us God’s highest purpose isn’t efficiency, and Jen Pollock Michel writes on the effects of Alzheimer’s . We bring together futurists, theologians, artists, practitioners, and professors to consider how technology shapes us even as we use it. |
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