Anyone here with an extremely high IQ?

Jimmy Snyder

I never joined, but I looked into it a few years ago. My IQ is insufficient for their needs. However, I qualify based on my GRE scores. It seems to me that they spend a lot of time solving abstract puzzles and my time is taken up in solving problems from my physics books.

Danger

As was mentioned in the second thread that Chi Meson linked to, it is a club with no apparent purpose other than bragging. As such, it is a joke, since a lot of the people that they are boasting about their intelligence to are actually more intelligent than they are.
Clubs usually have a commonality of interest amongst the members, but are not exclusive. For instance, I belonged to the Experimental Aircraft Association for a few years until I moved away. Most of the members were pilots (me being one), aircraft builders, and/or aeronautical engineers because of shared interests. That was not a requirement, and there was no obligation to become a member if you attended meetings. One of my half-dozen friends when I lived in that area was a champion motocross racer. He went to a meeting with me once just for the socialization after the formal speaker, because he wanted a technical explanation as to why 2-stroke engines aren't used in aeroplanes. All that I was able to offer on my own was because of the narrow power band, which is why I invited him, but the members surrounded him and talked for over an hour. Even some of our guest speakers weren't members.
In the same vein, I belong to a pool league and used to belong to a couple of darts leagues. Guess what the commonality is?
Some Mensa members might have some common interests, but the only universal one is arrogance.

Pythagorean

Hell yeah, my IQ is up in the 60's, let me share my secret with you:

Number Nine

It means nothing to discuss raw scores. Different tests produce different IQ's and different percentiles.

Pythagorean

To clear up some confusion that seems apparent in this thread:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelli...t#Modern_tests

pgardn

Very muddy as to what these things actually measure. The old IQ tests were used to test for deficiencies, high scores meant nothing.

One should automatically deduct 35.347 pts from their score if they actually care.

turbo

It would be a really good idea to back up this statement.

Danger

Are you sure that it's not 35.346?
I could be mistaken, or perhaps my paper about the subject is outdated, but that's the figure that I remember.

Pythagorean

Significant figures people, sheesh.

Danger

You must be a math guy; I'm unfamiliar with that term.

Kutt

People with gifted IQ's attribute their intelligence to "brainy" subjects such as physics, mathematics, and assorted sciences.

You're average person might struggle to become proficient in these academic and occupational fields.

The most famous and notable scientists in history all had IQ's above 140.

WannabeNewton

Your reference for this statement?

lisab

Feynman's IQ was 125.

Curious3141

That number and that factoid about Feynman are often bandied about by those skeptical of IQ tests. I believe it's almost certain that that number was an aberration, caused by a multiplicity of factors - a poor test (maybe one emphasising verbal ability, or prior recall of facts/trivia), Feynman's lack of seriousness in taking the test and/or well-known antipathy toward psychometrics in general.

You only have to read his autobiographical "Surely you're joking, Mr. Feynman!" to know how he viewed shrinks and their ilk.

Psychometrics wasn't that far along those days, and there were plenty of bad tests floating about. I'm willing to wager that a properly administered "culture-fair" modern test that tests symbolic logic and reasoning ability would have demonstrated Feynman to have had a VERY high IQ (at least 160), provided Feynman were serious about taking it. Unfortunately, we'll never know.

I believe that IQ is correlated with cognitive ability, and the top achievers in any intellectual field will have high IQs. It's certainly not the only factor that's important - motivation, emotional adaptability (I hate the catchphrase "emotional intelligence") and other factors play very important roles. But it's unnecessary to measure IQs to judge the worth of these top achievers, because their achievements speak for themselves.

IQ remains important in stratifying the cognitively subnormal, but it's really fairly useless in quantifying supernormal cognition, except to provide underachievers with dubious bragging rights.

Andre

Maybe Feynman used his estimated 160 to judge that one should not take those tests seriously.

Agreed

Curious3141

I added some comments in an edit.

chemisttree

'Sheesh' means the same thing as "geez" or "golly" or "darn" or "eh?" (in Canadian)... as in, "Significant figures people, eh?"