Re: "A Short (and Bloody) History of the High I. Q. Societies"

From: Spike Jones (spike66@attglobal.net)
Date: Fri Aug 10 2001 - 12:41:28 MDT


Joe Dees wrote:

> >
> I was a member of Mensa and Intertel in the '70's, but quit because I found the meetings boring. It is much more interesting to talk with someone with whom you share an interest than with someone with whom you share an IQ score.

Altho I never joined, I attended a few meetings before deciding
the problem with Mensa meetings is the people there do not have
enough in common. Being smart is not enough. Liking puzzles
is still not enough. Now the specialised Mensa groups mighta been
fun, the singles (but I wasnt then) or the Mensa bikers.

Turns out, there is a definite preselection going on. If one
considers ones closest friends and associates, we *already*
somehow filter them such that we hang out with those
intellectually similar to ourselves. Murray and Herrnstein point
out that we do this without even realizing it.

If you list all you closest friends, many if not most of them
would pass Mensa's test easily. People of similar mental
ability somehow find each other, and become friends. This
has gotten a lot easier with the internet. spike



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Fri Oct 12 2001 - 14:40:06 MDT