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Based on my experience with Mensa members, being obsessed with your own intelligence is seemingly the primary criterion for joining Mensa. A long, boring test w

Based on my experience with Mensa members, being obsessed with your own intelligence is seemingly the primary criterion for joining Mensa. A long, boring test was probably exactly the selection filter they're looking for.

whatshisface 4y ago
Mensa doesn't need a special filter for that, by virtue of being an IQ organization and not a chemistry/literature/mathematics organization (where it's about using your IQ for something) they will end up with the people who haven't joined an organization that's more specific to their interests: a great implicit filter for people who don't have interests other than solving puzzles.
- mdp2021 4y ago
  We are not restricted to one membership (of course). Editing for the skimmer who will not read the implicit: it's about an interest in meta-skills, transversal, exportable.
stavros 4y ago
I joined Mensa today because I overheard some good reviews, but that's my biggest fear. I want a group that I can go for coffee and have interesting conversations with, not a group of people who are all about how smart they are. I don't want to be biased before even going, though.
- shepardrtc 4y ago
  > not a group of people who are all about how smart they are. You're going to be disappointed. Seriously though, you can find incredibly intelligent people in the strangest of places. And you find less than you might think in the most obvious of places. Once you learn what to look for, I think it becomes easier to find people to have interesting conversations with. Personally, I find that curiosity about the world around you is a very good indicator of someone I would enjoy speaking with.
  - mumblemumble 4y ago
    It's funny. I am fascinated by cryptozoology, but generally don't believe cryptids exist. So you'd think skeptics' groups would be my jam? Turns out, nah. All the skeptics' groups I've tried aren't really all that interested in paranormal subjects, per se, just in their agreement that it doesn't exist. And the conversations often don't go much beyond that, so I quickly get bored. Cryptozoology enthusiast groups are way more fun for me. I may not agree with most people there on whether Mothman exists, but we are 100% agreed that Mothman is awesome and we would like to spend more time talking about the story and what it means to people. I used to be a regular at a Ruby meetup on similar grounds. I don't actually like the programming language itself very much, but I love Rubyists.
- torstenvl 4y ago
  This largely comes down to local group culture. In my experience, in the U.S. at least, more rural groups seem better. I speculate that this is due to: (1) lack of alternatives for intellectual engagement and (2) demographics, specifically that older generations are more likely to join clubs and organizations of all kinds. Both of these would balance the trend of millennial professionals to only join such an organization out of arrogance.
- InitialLastName 4y ago
  You self-filtered into a group that's only about how smart people are, though. In my experience, interesting conversations involve people with interests (and navel-gazing is antithetical to that).
  - mdp2021 4y ago
    A transversal quality does not imply «navel-gazing».
- giantg2 4y ago
  Maybe a 2600 meeting?
- syedkarim 4y ago
  The thing to remember is that one in fifty people qualifies to be in Mensa, which is not particularly selective or exclusive. This is 2% of the general population, not 2% of, for example, readers of Hacker News. Or 2% of software developers or 2% of people who read more than one book per year. My experience with Mensa is from 20 years ago with the group in Chicago. I was in my twenties and my guess is that the average age of members was late-fifties. In theory, they were interested in recruiting younger people, in practice they were not interested in changing the activities in a way that would attract younger members, like focusing efforts to solve real-world problems. I felt they were more interested in showcasing depth in various atypical hobbies, or to simply talk about how smart they were. I was never in awe of anyone’s intellect. Pretty much just normal people. I don’t think I came across anyone that was exceptionally accomplished at anything.
- pessimizer 4y ago
  I joined in Chicago for a year, and it turns out that it's really a board gaming club.
  - stavros 4y ago
    Honestly that would be a great outcome.
    - pessimizer 4y ago
      It wasn't bad. The people were a little bland and John Galty, but I love playing board games. The main problem was that they call it a Chicago chapter, but it was way out in the suburbs. I assumed that it was to be as far away from black people as possible (along with its membership, I think I was the only black person at the first meeting I went to out of probably 60 people IIRC), but I assume bad faith. edit: would recommend if you live nearby and treat it as a board gaming club. edit2: also, if I remember correctly you could bring two guests to meetings, so you're not stuck with only Mensa members.
      - sitkack 4y ago
        > The people were a little bland and John Galty I feel like that could be the Yelp review for every Mensa club.
karmakaze 4y ago
Googled it for you: > To qualify for Mensa, you must have scored in the top 2 percent of the general population on any one of more than 200 accepted, standardized intelligence tests — including our Mensa Admission tests — at any point in your life. An estimated six million Americans are eligible for membership. I've met some members. Their personalities are not what I would associate with the most intelligent people I've otherwise met. People who memorize digits of Pi come to mind.
- outworlder 4y ago
  > People who memorize digits of Pi come to mind. Hey, I feel attacked. What's wrong with memorizing digits of Pi?
  - coldtea 4y ago
    For starters, they're infinite, so it's a futile endeavour...
    - stinos 4y ago
      Is life itself really more than a series of rather futile endeavours? The point is that futility is, luckily, orthogonal to being enjoyable.
    - munch117 4y ago
      Infinite? Only if you include duplicates...
      - coldtea 4y ago
        Or if you include order, which is what was meant (that's called literal irony)
    - dibujante 4y ago
      I think you will quickly find that there are only 10 distinct digits found within pi.
blagie 4y ago
I've never been part of Mensa, but it seems like good concept for when it was created. The basic problem a lot of bright people had -- in the days before telecommunications -- was that the only people you had access to lived on your own street. If you were a nerd, most were boring. A lot of work went into finding interesting people, be that through ham radio, organizations like Mensa, universities (at the time, about 5% of people went to university), gifted programs, or other places nerds could congregate. I don't see much point to Mensa in 2022, but I think the cynicism is unwarranted. What do you do when you have a social club which is suddenly obsoleted by cars, phones, air planes, and the internet?
- coldtea 4y ago
  >I've never been part of Mensa, but it seems like good concept for when it was created "Let's create an wannabe intellectual elite club based on a controversial and not really representative test, milking suckers with paid tests, and giving them a false sense of achievement and superiority" (and I score in the high range, it's not about sour grapes)
  - sitkack 4y ago
    Is it better or worse than having a club for Ivy League schools? At least Mensa doesn't gate membership on political connections and class (yes by proxy, lets be charitable).
  - blagie 4y ago
    Tests in 1946 didn't have the same types of controversy as in 2022. Prior to standardized testing, college admissions was literally based on belonging to a club. Rich parents would send you to a prep school, and admissions was based on admissions officers knowing the prep school (and grades, recommendations, etc. there-from). It was introduced to allow anyone from any socioeconomic background, and more demographic backgrounds, to be admitted based on ability rather than wealth. At the time, admissions rates to elite schools weren't nearly as cut-throat. A poor kid could study hard, take a test, and go to Harvard. They didn't make the world equal, but they made it /more/ equal. I really don't think the cynicism is warranted. Institutions go obsolete.
pizza234 4y ago
YMMV :) I joined mensa in two countries; I was involved in one, while in the other, I went only to one meeting. The first had mostly regular table/social game events, and cultural events (e.g. chess competitions, museums, literature etc.). I couldn't tell I was at a Mensa club, if not for the orientation of the cultural events, but especially... for the quantity of engineers :) I remember there was at least one teenager at the social events, and I wouldn't even exclude that they just allowed them in because he was a friend of somebody - the atmosphere was relaxed and playful. I'd totally join again a club like the first: 1. it was fun 2. the cultural activities were actually interesting 3. I'd network with SWEs. Which is, in some way, the attractive of Mensa - it definitely attracts nerds :) Regarding me as a member of Mensa. I wouldn't qualify me obsessed with it; intelligence is a tool for me. And definitely I didn't enroll in college at 13 like some other HN readers :)
dkarl 4y ago
> being obsessed with your own intelligence is seemingly the primary criterion for joining Mensa The parent says that scoring like an average person means they "really suck" or are "just dumb," so I think they have the right mentality for Mensa, even if their performance fell short.
- bena 4y ago
  Exactly. I don't know exactly what it is about intelligence, but people get really defensive about it. No one wants to be average or even slightly above average. People will go through a lot of mental hoops to stake a claim of incredible intelligence. We don't do this with any other measure though. The difference being that most other measures can be measured. They run up against reality rather quickly. Am I tall? No. No shame in saying that. No shame in saying I'm around the average. Am I fast? Slow? Strong? Weak? Thin? Fat? How big are my feet? My hands? etc. All can be measured and seen. All have physical manifestations I cannot argue against. Intelligence. Well. That's a little more abstract. Abstract to a degree that we don't always recognize that Jeopardy is not really a "smart" game. It's a trivia game. You have to know things. That's not intelligence, that's knowledge.
mdp2021 4y ago
> the primary criterion You are describing a type in the context of a club of people interested in the opposites of the type. It could suggest you that the deviation may remain the interesting part. > the primary criterion for joining Improper formulation. Not that important, but.

whatshisface 4y ago

Mensa doesn't need a special filter for that, by virtue of being an IQ organization and not a chemistry/literature/mathematics organization (where it's about using your IQ for something) they will end up with the people who haven't joined an organization that's more specific to their interests: a great implicit filter for people who don't have interests other than solving puzzles.

mdp2021 4y ago
We are not restricted to one membership (of course). Editing for the skimmer who will not read the implicit: it's about an interest in meta-skills, transversal, exportable.

stavros 4y ago

I joined Mensa today because I overheard some good reviews, but that's my biggest fear. I want a group that I can go for coffee and have interesting conversations with, not a group of people who are all about how smart they are. I don't want to be biased before even going, though.

shepardrtc 4y ago
> not a group of people who are all about how smart they are. You're going to be disappointed. Seriously though, you can find incredibly intelligent people in the strangest of places. And you find less than you might think in the most obvious of places. Once you learn what to look for, I think it becomes easier to find people to have interesting conversations with. Personally, I find that curiosity about the world around you is a very good indicator of someone I would enjoy speaking with.
- mumblemumble 4y ago
  It's funny. I am fascinated by cryptozoology, but generally don't believe cryptids exist. So you'd think skeptics' groups would be my jam? Turns out, nah. All the skeptics' groups I've tried aren't really all that interested in paranormal subjects, per se, just in their agreement that it doesn't exist. And the conversations often don't go much beyond that, so I quickly get bored. Cryptozoology enthusiast groups are way more fun for me. I may not agree with most people there on whether Mothman exists, but we are 100% agreed that Mothman is awesome and we would like to spend more time talking about the story and what it means to people. I used to be a regular at a Ruby meetup on similar grounds. I don't actually like the programming language itself very much, but I love Rubyists.
torstenvl 4y ago
This largely comes down to local group culture. In my experience, in the U.S. at least, more rural groups seem better. I speculate that this is due to: (1) lack of alternatives for intellectual engagement and (2) demographics, specifically that older generations are more likely to join clubs and organizations of all kinds. Both of these would balance the trend of millennial professionals to only join such an organization out of arrogance.
InitialLastName 4y ago
You self-filtered into a group that's only about how smart people are, though. In my experience, interesting conversations involve people with interests (and navel-gazing is antithetical to that).
- mdp2021 4y ago
  A transversal quality does not imply «navel-gazing».
giantg2 4y ago
Maybe a 2600 meeting?
syedkarim 4y ago
The thing to remember is that one in fifty people qualifies to be in Mensa, which is not particularly selective or exclusive. This is 2% of the general population, not 2% of, for example, readers of Hacker News. Or 2% of software developers or 2% of people who read more than one book per year. My experience with Mensa is from 20 years ago with the group in Chicago. I was in my twenties and my guess is that the average age of members was late-fifties. In theory, they were interested in recruiting younger people, in practice they were not interested in changing the activities in a way that would attract younger members, like focusing efforts to solve real-world problems. I felt they were more interested in showcasing depth in various atypical hobbies, or to simply talk about how smart they were. I was never in awe of anyone’s intellect. Pretty much just normal people. I don’t think I came across anyone that was exceptionally accomplished at anything.
pessimizer 4y ago
I joined in Chicago for a year, and it turns out that it's really a board gaming club.
- stavros 4y ago
  Honestly that would be a great outcome.
  - pessimizer 4y ago
    It wasn't bad. The people were a little bland and John Galty, but I love playing board games. The main problem was that they call it a Chicago chapter, but it was way out in the suburbs. I assumed that it was to be as far away from black people as possible (along with its membership, I think I was the only black person at the first meeting I went to out of probably 60 people IIRC), but I assume bad faith. edit: would recommend if you live nearby and treat it as a board gaming club. edit2: also, if I remember correctly you could bring two guests to meetings, so you're not stuck with only Mensa members.
    - sitkack 4y ago
      > The people were a little bland and John Galty I feel like that could be the Yelp review for every Mensa club.

karmakaze 4y ago

Googled it for you: > To qualify for Mensa, you must have scored in the top 2 percent of the general population on any one of more than 200 accepted, standardized intelligence tests — including our Mensa Admission tests — at any point in your life. An estimated six million Americans are eligible for membership. I've met some members. Their personalities are not what I would associate with the most intelligent people I've otherwise met. People who memorize digits of Pi come to mind.

outworlder 4y ago
> People who memorize digits of Pi come to mind. Hey, I feel attacked. What's wrong with memorizing digits of Pi?
- coldtea 4y ago
  For starters, they're infinite, so it's a futile endeavour...
  - stinos 4y ago
    Is life itself really more than a series of rather futile endeavours? The point is that futility is, luckily, orthogonal to being enjoyable.
  - munch117 4y ago
    Infinite? Only if you include duplicates...
    - coldtea 4y ago
      Or if you include order, which is what was meant (that's called literal irony)
  - dibujante 4y ago
    I think you will quickly find that there are only 10 distinct digits found within pi.

blagie 4y ago

I've never been part of Mensa, but it seems like good concept for when it was created. The basic problem a lot of bright people had -- in the days before telecommunications -- was that the only people you had access to lived on your own street. If you were a nerd, most were boring. A lot of work went into finding interesting people, be that through ham radio, organizations like Mensa, universities (at the time, about 5% of people went to university), gifted programs, or other places nerds could congregate. I don't see much point to Mensa in 2022, but I think the cynicism is unwarranted. What do you do when you have a social club which is suddenly obsoleted by cars, phones, air planes, and the internet?

coldtea 4y ago
>I've never been part of Mensa, but it seems like good concept for when it was created "Let's create an wannabe intellectual elite club based on a controversial and not really representative test, milking suckers with paid tests, and giving them a false sense of achievement and superiority" (and I score in the high range, it's not about sour grapes)
- sitkack 4y ago
  Is it better or worse than having a club for Ivy League schools? At least Mensa doesn't gate membership on political connections and class (yes by proxy, lets be charitable).
- blagie 4y ago
  Tests in 1946 didn't have the same types of controversy as in 2022. Prior to standardized testing, college admissions was literally based on belonging to a club. Rich parents would send you to a prep school, and admissions was based on admissions officers knowing the prep school (and grades, recommendations, etc. there-from). It was introduced to allow anyone from any socioeconomic background, and more demographic backgrounds, to be admitted based on ability rather than wealth. At the time, admissions rates to elite schools weren't nearly as cut-throat. A poor kid could study hard, take a test, and go to Harvard. They didn't make the world equal, but they made it /more/ equal. I really don't think the cynicism is warranted. Institutions go obsolete.

pizza234 4y ago

YMMV :) I joined mensa in two countries; I was involved in one, while in the other, I went only to one meeting. The first had mostly regular table/social game events, and cultural events (e.g. chess competitions, museums, literature etc.). I couldn't tell I was at a Mensa club, if not for the orientation of the cultural events, but especially... for the quantity of engineers :) I remember there was at least one teenager at the social events, and I wouldn't even exclude that they just allowed them in because he was a friend of somebody - the atmosphere was relaxed and playful. I'd totally join again a club like the first: 1. it was fun 2. the cultural activities were actually interesting 3. I'd network with SWEs. Which is, in some way, the attractive of Mensa - it definitely attracts nerds :) Regarding me as a member of Mensa. I wouldn't qualify me obsessed with it; intelligence is a tool for me. And definitely I didn't enroll in college at 13 like some other HN readers :)

dkarl 4y ago

> being obsessed with your own intelligence is seemingly the primary criterion for joining Mensa The parent says that scoring like an average person means they "really suck" or are "just dumb," so I think they have the right mentality for Mensa, even if their performance fell short.

bena 4y ago
Exactly. I don't know exactly what it is about intelligence, but people get really defensive about it. No one wants to be average or even slightly above average. People will go through a lot of mental hoops to stake a claim of incredible intelligence. We don't do this with any other measure though. The difference being that most other measures can be measured. They run up against reality rather quickly. Am I tall? No. No shame in saying that. No shame in saying I'm around the average. Am I fast? Slow? Strong? Weak? Thin? Fat? How big are my feet? My hands? etc. All can be measured and seen. All have physical manifestations I cannot argue against. Intelligence. Well. That's a little more abstract. Abstract to a degree that we don't always recognize that Jeopardy is not really a "smart" game. It's a trivia game. You have to know things. That's not intelligence, that's knowledge.

mdp2021 4y ago

> the primary criterion You are describing a type in the context of a club of people interested in the opposites of the type. It could suggest you that the deviation may remain the interesting part. > the primary criterion for joining Improper formulation. Not that important, but.