RE: Mensa, was Re: IQ tests

From: natashavita@earthlink.net
Date: Thu Aug 09 2001 - 11:29:46 MDT


Micheal Butler wrote:

>Hmm, SATs are sufficient? I had thought it had to be one of a short list of
approved IQ tests.<

It's a specific Mensa test, unless there has been a change in admittance.

I gave a talk at the most recent conference in Southern California the weekend before last. I must concur with the recent discussion on the Cryonet list about mensa gatherings. -:) (And, I will leave that to your imaginations because I'd rather not cross-post in deference to the posters.)

The long and short - in my own words - is that it might be beneficial to mensa folks if they took a common sense test along with the IQ test.

What surprised me was that during my talk many folks participated in discussion about nanotechnologies relationship to future body designs, and applauded nanomedicine. Almost all hands went up when asked if they wanted to live well past 100. But it seemed the majority of participants were not knowledgeable about health, exercise or aesthetics.

When we think of the top 1% of thinkers who are told they are really, really smart because they score well on a test yet no matter how erudite their vocabularies and ability to excel at the mensa type of testing, there seems to be a lack in social skills and self-awareness, i.e., common sense.

Why does society consider a person who can memorize words and formulas, or discern problems presented in a written test be more able to "think" than someone whose cognizance is highly skilled in dealing with life's varied problems and applying knowledge to clear-headed analysis? I don't.

Natasha

Original Message:
-----------------
From: Michael M. Butler butler@comp-lib.org
Date: Thu, 09 Aug 2001 09:12:22 -0700
To: extropians@extropy.org
Subject: Mensa, was Re: IQ tests

Hmm, SATs are sufficient? I had thought it had to be one of a short list of approved IQ tests.

M

Adrian Tymes wrote:

> Top 2%, as measured by score on a standardized test, such as the SAT.
> The exact score needed varies as the average score moves up or down -

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