Karl Coryat


Karl Coryat is an American writer, comedian, and musician.

''Jeopardy!'' contestant

In 1996, he was a two-day champion on the television game show Jeopardy!. Subsequently, he wrote an online article with advice for prospective Jeopardy! contestants, which included a method to play along at home, keep score, and gauge one's performance. Enthusiasts of the show call this the "Coryat score".

Music career

As an early member of the Immersion Composition Society, Coryat is the co-author of The Frustrated Songwriter's Handbook, which details the method that ICS members use to write a large number of songs quickly. Tim Rice-Oxley used the method to write songs for the Keane album Strangeland, and Jez Williams, guitarist for British band Doves, has cited the book as inspiration for their 2009 album Kingdom of Rust. Coryat also wrote Guerrilla Home Recording and edited The Bass Player Book. As a music journalist, he has interviewed Prince, Sting, Geddy Lee, Flea, Brian Wilson, Les Claypool, and others for Bass Player magazine.
As a multi-instrumentalist musician, he has been recording music under the name Eddie Current since the 1980s.

Other pursuits

Coryat's essay "Toward an Informational Mechanics" was awarded a Judging Panel Discretionary Prize in the 2012 physics essay competition sponsored by the Foundational Questions Institute and Scientific American magazine. Drawing on work by John Archibald Wheeler, Carlo Rovelli, and Bob Coecke, the essay calls for a generalization of quantum mechanics that incorporates informational legacy or context into quantum measurements, which might ultimately lead to a description of an "it from bit" universe with the least possible complexity. He has produced video essays on how the biocentric universe theory of Robert Lanza may be the best route to this.
As a comedian under the pseudonym Edward Current, he makes YouTube satires of religious fundamentalism and politics, as well as serious videos demonstrating physics and criticizing the 9/11 Truth movement.

Personal life

Coryat attended Brunswick School and the University of California, Berkeley. He lives in Arkansas.