5 ms·

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, standardi

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 5y ago
> People who memorize digits of Pi come to mind. Hey, I feel attacked. What's wrong with memorizing digits of Pi?
- coldtea 5y ago
  For starters, they're infinite, so it's a futile endeavour...
  - stinos 5y 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 5y ago
    Infinite? Only if you include duplicates...
    - coldtea 5y ago
      Or if you include order, which is what was meant (that's called literal irony)
  - dibujante 5y ago
    I think you will quickly find that there are only 10 distinct digits found within pi.
    - matthewmacleod 5y ago
      This is a very base-10 mindset. In fact, if we use base-π representation then π=1 and memorisation is trivial. QED.
      - dibujante 5y ago
        Oh no, then if n=∞, there are infinite digits in pi!
- JackFr 5y ago
  I got you -- it's 0 through 9.
- karmakaze 5y ago
  You should have been memorizing Tau, of course! Don't embarrass the human race to our galactic neighbours. Imagine what we'd think of receiving a signal that was an encoding of e/2?
giantg2 5y ago
They used to allow you to join based on SAT scores. I know someone from that era. They don't seem very intelligent. I'm guessing they just studied a lot. Maybe it's the same for those people.
GuB-42 5y ago
> in the top 2 percent of the general population on any one of more than 200 accepted > An estimated six million Americans are eligible for membership. That's not how it works. 6 million Americans is about 2%. It means that in order to have such a filter, you only have one chance on a single test. Not, "1 of more than 200 at any point in your life" Out of 200 tests, even among those of the highest standards, you are bound to find one where you are particularly good at, and then you can try again several times, because you are unlikely to be at the exact same position every time. Furthermore, the "general population" includes people who are not in their best shape and yet, "any point in your life" tests your peak performance. And there is training of course. I wouldn't be surprised if it was more than 10% in reality. By that I mean "pick a random person and give him a huge incentive (ex. millions of dollars) to pass". If we restrict to people who really want to join without further incentive, it may be way higher.

outworlder 5y ago

> People who memorize digits of Pi come to mind. Hey, I feel attacked. What's wrong with memorizing digits of Pi?

coldtea 5y ago
For starters, they're infinite, so it's a futile endeavour...
- stinos 5y 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 5y ago
  Infinite? Only if you include duplicates...
  - coldtea 5y ago
    Or if you include order, which is what was meant (that's called literal irony)
- dibujante 5y ago
  I think you will quickly find that there are only 10 distinct digits found within pi.
  - matthewmacleod 5y ago
    This is a very base-10 mindset. In fact, if we use base-π representation then π=1 and memorisation is trivial. QED.
    - dibujante 5y ago
      Oh no, then if n=∞, there are infinite digits in pi!
JackFr 5y ago
I got you -- it's 0 through 9.
karmakaze 5y ago
You should have been memorizing Tau, of course! Don't embarrass the human race to our galactic neighbours. Imagine what we'd think of receiving a signal that was an encoding of e/2?

giantg2 5y ago

They used to allow you to join based on SAT scores. I know someone from that era. They don't seem very intelligent. I'm guessing they just studied a lot. Maybe it's the same for those people.

GuB-42 5y ago

> in the top 2 percent of the general population on any one of more than 200 accepted > An estimated six million Americans are eligible for membership. That's not how it works. 6 million Americans is about 2%. It means that in order to have such a filter, you only have one chance on a single test. Not, "1 of more than 200 at any point in your life" Out of 200 tests, even among those of the highest standards, you are bound to find one where you are particularly good at, and then you can try again several times, because you are unlikely to be at the exact same position every time. Furthermore, the "general population" includes people who are not in their best shape and yet, "any point in your life" tests your peak performance. And there is training of course. I wouldn't be surprised if it was more than 10% in reality. By that I mean "pick a random person and give him a huge incentive (ex. millions of dollars) to pass". If we restrict to people who really want to join without further incentive, it may be way higher.