MENSA

[Smooth Operator]

The fuck are you on about? Is that some sort of venereal disease anonymous club?
Seriously people if you create threads try to make some shred of sense, otherwise I can only say go see a doctor... maybe he can fix up your threads.

 

[GigaHz]

The club doesn't bother me at all.

I just hope that the members do something useful with the gift they were given, other than solving word and math problems daily.

Seriously guys, thats basically the cognitive equivalent of "jerking it".

 

[Eri]

The fuck are you on about? Is that some sort of venereal disease anonymous club?
Seriously people if you create threads try to make some shred of sense, otherwise I can only say go see a doctor... maybe he can fix up your threads.

Maybe you should try educating yourself on things you don't understand instead of just making wild leaps of logic that have no baring in reality. http://www.mensa.org/

 

[Freechoice]

I used to be a member years ago, but then decided it's not worth the membership anymore when I hit financial hard times.

And this is why I told MENSA to go fuck themselves.

"You need to be an intellectual elite to get into our club! ...and $63 a year"

As opposed to the retard club known as Xbox Live Gold? $60 a year to get called a ******!

 

[Spy_Guy]

MENSA in spanish means stupid (femenine).

mandatory link [http://www.wordreference.com/es/en/translation.asp?spen=mensa]

Mensa is a colloquial word in Swedish that can be used to describe what a woman on her period is doing.

Spoiler

It involves blood and scariness.

My personal take on groups like MENSA or groups for people who abstain from drinking, etc is that they're insanely pretentious.

I don't drink alcohol by choice, but I don't go joining a club of people so we can thumb our noses at those who do.
People who join that sort of group are not the kind I want to be hanging out with.

 

[Erana]

Getting a gifted card to pull is what bothers people about MENSA. You get to pull the card and haven't done anything in their opinion to earn it.

See, that's the thing. Why assume everyone is so hell bent on pulling them cards?

I didn't say anything about anyone getting upset over people pulling the card, I said that they could.

Getting a gifted card to pull is what bothers people about MENSA.

I genuinely feel no jealousy, no resentment, no nothing towards you and your academic achievements. What bothers me is people who think that I (and my ilk) do feel these things, just because you're intelligent in some areas.

Stephen Hawking and Prof Brian Cox are not popular because they have high IQs, or they did well in school. They're popular because they've actively worked to increase humanity's understanding of the Universe.

And those are just a couple of celebrity physicists - There are thousands of people out there working to cure Diseases, Resolve world hunger, work out how to avoid global warming - etc. etc. - If you applied yourself to it, with your 'gift', you could probably help them do it.

Do you see what I'm trying to get at?

What the rest of what I said here:

Unless you're being a horse's ass about being in MENSA, these are the kind of people who are going to hate you for something pointless anyway, so don't worry about it too much.

I have been given a hard time in the past for being in situations that blatantly display the "gifted" label, and its because those people are just unhappy people. It is most certainly not "everyone out to get the gifteds" or any bullshit like that. But it bothers me that you've seemed to have picked up on a sense of "Us the gifted, them the average" bias that I really don't have. I care a great deal about gifted education programs and such, but that's because I feel that the most important part of making the distinction of "gifted" at all is to identify better what someone may need to have good mental health, especially as a child.

The OP's 22 according to their profile; that's pretty young. And if qualifying for MENSA is a new thing for them and they're mentioning bias against members, there may well be some anxiety over the matter present. I suppose it put me in a bit of a matronly mode; I said "People do X" because that's what people usually say to irrational negative behavior. When I was frustrated that people were calling a friend with a gluten allergy a liar because wheat didn't send them into anaphylactic shock. The response I got when I expressed this frustration? "People are jerks, Erana."
Yes, I phrased it poorly, and while I should have put a "Some people" in there, to my credit, I did imply at the end of my post here that the people who would resent someone for MENSA membership were specifically the sort of people who look for things to be mad about.

 

[renegade7]

Don't think a whole lot of people care tbh. Mensa's main requirement is an IQ of 132, and you definitely cannot quantify intellect with a single number. Mine's 144 and I've done some spectacularly stupid shit.

But I think there's a view that it's just a bunch of smart people hanging around bragging about how smart they are.

 

[Eri]

The fuck are you on about? Is that some sort of venereal disease anonymous club?
Seriously people if you create threads try to make some shred of sense, otherwise I can only say go see a doctor... maybe he can fix up your threads.

Maybe you should try educating yourself on things you don't understand instead of just making wild leaps of logic that have no baring in reality. http://www.mensa.org/

His point was that maybe you should have put that link in the OP since not everyone knows what mensa is (and as we've learned in this thread, it can mean you are stupid in other languages).

Your response is a demonstration of the silly superiority attitude that makes people dislike mensa members.

From where I sit, mensa is just a circle jerk and/or hang out for with people that don't play nice with others.

So it's my fault for not putting more info and not his for making wild accusations? Sorry I don't think that's how it works. If anything, that post just proves why some members might feel the way they do, because of people that just jump to conclusions like that. Sure doesn't sound like someone who plays nice with others.

 

[Vault101]

ehhhhh...it seems like a special little club for smart people to go

granted Im probably just jealous becuase I wouldnt be "in-tew-eh-gent" enough

I guess its like any other gathering of people who feel they can relate to each other, I doubt 1Q tests mean all that much in the grand scheme of things, even in "intullectually focused" jobs

 

[Edible Avatar]

I just got back from the Mensa brain workout. I don't think i'd qualify:
Which word of four letters can be added to the front of the following words to create other English words?

CARD BOX CODE BAG HASTE

>Crack
Crackcard crackbox crackcode crackbag crackhaste
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Which same three-letter word can be placed in front of the following words to make a new word?

SIGN, DONE, DUCT, FOUND, FIRM, TRACT, DENSE

>Not
Notsign notdone notduct notfound notfirm nottract notdense
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What is the word coiled inside this circle?

N O
G E
R S
T R

>NORTGERS
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RESULTS:

Spoiler

Damn its fun being stupid! MENSA tests are fucking awesome!

 

[TheVioletBandit]

Sometimes I want to think less, and stupid more.

As for MENSA, I certainly wouldn't PAY to be in their "no dummies allowed club". I know some real dumdums, and there pretty fun to hangout with. Also, I'm to smart for MENSA.

 

[Vault101]

I took their entrance test. I failed, because my IQ was only 117 and you needed more. So I paid tens of dollars for the privilege of being told that I'm too stupid to join. I don't think anybody who does that has the brains to deserve to join, so their judgement was fair.

It makes me wonder...how relevant are IQ scores?...I mean an IQ of 170 is great and all, but unless your actually putting your "great mind" towards somthing....then its hardly a braging point

also are IQ scores like thenew game scores? 100 is the new "dumb" and 120 is the new "average"?

 

[Vegosiux]

Notice the OP asked the question about how we would react to seeing it on a resume? He pulled the card in the very first post.

Yes, and as a former member I myself said that'd look pretentious. I also only mentioned my own membership because the OP asked about our experiences, so I shared mine *shrug* And yes, people going "Oh look I'm in Mensa, I'm SMRT!" annoy me cause they make me look bad by proxy.

(trivia: "smrt" means "death" in my language, so I cackle every time someone spells "smart" the 'cool' way)

I didn't say anything about anyone getting upset over people pulling the card, I said that they could.

Ah, misunderstanding on my part then. Nothing to see here, citizens, stand aside, situation under control.

 

[JoJo]

also are IQ scores like thenew game scores? 100 is the new "dumb" and 120 is the new "average"?

IQ scores are pretty much inflation proof since 100 is defined as the mean IQ score of everyone, so even if there was a magical disease that only wiped out dumb people, the average would still be 100 since it would be redefined. MENSA only require an exceptionally high score because that's their organisation's gimmick.

OT: I would be wary of hiring anyone who said they were a member of MENSA on their application, I wouldn't hold it against them but I wouldn't count it in their favour either. If you're applying for an intellectual job then excellent grades should already be a given, if it's not an intellectual job then IQ would be irrelevant. Also we all know of the "Sheldon Coopers" of this world who have high IQs but then dreadful emotional and/or social intelligence. If two applications were equal, I'd far rather hire someone with say voluntary experience with children (which shows they are likely to have good social skills) rather than someone who's claim to fame is a high test score.

 

[Vault101]

IQ scores are pretty much inflation proof since 100 is defined as the mean IQ score of everyone, so even if there was a magical disease that only wiped out dumb people, the average would still be 100 since it would be redefined. MENSA only require an exceptionally high score because that's their organisation's gimmick.

OT: I would be wary of hiring anyone who said they were a member of MENSA on their .

but if 100 is averge then I doubt THAT mnay people here have IQ's of 120+ I mean ok demographic might have some sway...but still

 

[OneCatch]

Stephen Hawking and Prof Brian Cox are not popular because they have high IQs, or they did well in school. They're popular because they've actively worked to increase humanity's understanding of the Universe.

From what I have seen, Brian Cox is famous because he has a pretty face.

Yeah, some of my old lecturers work at CERN part time, and they fucking hate him because the media always go to him when it comes to literally any science based story and then call him "the top expert in the field" when he apparently really isn't.

 

[JoJo]

IQ scores are pretty much inflation proof since 100 is defined as the mean IQ score of everyone, so even if there was a magical disease that only wiped out dumb people, the average would still be 100 since it would be redefined. MENSA only require an exceptionally high score because that's their organisation's gimmick.

but if 100 is averge then I doubt THAT mnay people here have IQ's of 120+ I mean ok demographic might have some sway...but still

To be fair only a small minority of people here actually mention their IQ score, most don't say anything at-all, maybe those who get a higher score are more likely to mention it in public? Of course some might be lying too, but I've had experience online (particularly with Asperger's syndrome) where people have dismissed my claims because apparently it's something that people claim for attention or to be "cool" and it's pretty hurtful when I know I'm telling the truth, so I tend to take people's word for what they say unless it's ridiculously outlandish.

 

[Colour Scientist]

To be fair only a small minority of people here actually mention their IQ score, most don't say anything at-all, maybe those who get a higher score are more likely to mention it in public? Of course some might be lying too, but I've had experience online (particularly with Asperger's syndrome) where people have dismissed my claims because apparently it's something that people claim for attention or to be "cool" and it's pretty hurtful when I know I'm telling the truth, so I tend to take people's word for what they say unless it's ridiculously outlandish.

You just can't take people's word for it, I know I stopped a lot time ago, particularly in relation to IQ and mental conditions. I'm sorry that people don't take you seriously if you genuinely do have it but every second person on here claims to be autistic/sociopathic/ADHD/ADD/super genius/asexual or all of the above. These are two examples of IQ threads on these forums. The average IQ, even from the first page, is about 140. Seriously? They could at least make up something believable.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.226706-What-is-your-IQ?page=1
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.274072-whats-your-IQ-score?page=1

 

[Rastien]

MENSA seems abit of a con to me if im honest, you pay to join the group to validate your "eliteness" and join up with other people in the same group etc etc

I'm just happy knowing im able to join should i choose to, keeping my money and spending it on drugs (the medicinal kind) and hanging out with the dudes from work x)better investment of the money imho

 

[Queen Michael]

I took their entrance test. I failed, because my IQ was only 117 and you needed more. So I paid tens of dollars for the privilege of being told that I'm too stupid to join. I don't think anybody who does that has the brains to deserve to join, so their judgement was fair.

It makes me wonder...how relevant are IQ scores?...I mean an IQ of 170 is great and all, but unless your actually putting your "great mind" towards somthing....then its hardly a braging point

I'd say they're relevant when they're low, at least. Someone with 25 can't be all that clever in other areas either.