Brainiac

The sum of the square roots ...

MENSA is an organization for people who score in the top 2% of standardized IQ tests. MENSA allows a variety of standardized tests to be used for admittance to the group. I joined about 10 years ago, using the results of my GRE exam at the University of Texas. I've really been inactive -- only attended a North Texas singles group for a few months after I first joined. Other than that, I've just paid the dues and received a monthly magazine, which is actually pretty good reading material.

"Mensa" is a Latin word for table, and the expectation is that MENSA meetings are like intellectual round tables. My own experience differs somewhat. The standard tests used by Mensa don't measure emotional IQ, sociability and other factors that are crucial to personal success. I have a brother who is two years older than me. Bryan is smart, affable and nice looking. He's not Mensa-smart but it hasn't slowed his progress a bit. I brought him as a guest to one of my first Mensa singles meetings. The Mensans, I hate to admit, fell largely into the stereotype of shy, geeky nerds with mediocre social skills. I wasn't exactly the life of the party myself. Bryan, with his 1000-kilowatt smile and social finesse was everyone's favorite. "I love your brother". "When is your brother coming back?" I had to tell them he was just a guest and spared them from his overall impression that they were sort of geeky.

How does it feel to be in the top 2%? Well, I'd have to say it's lonely at the top. Most people can be enlivened by discussions of sports, local politics and maybe the weather. I like to talk about things that might be described as 'ethereal' or 'surreal'. Others might use the words loopy, weird and off-the-wall. The non-Mensan's eyes glaze over with boredom as I bring up concepts of Utopian society or the aging process. My eyes glaze over in the same manner, if they bring up the Dallas Cowboys' defense. Mensans' shyness is often a reluctance to be vulnerable -- to being categorized as weird, obtuse, strange, brilliant. Those are all terms that set you off (and away) from the crowd. Mensans are likewise people who need people. We mix better when we emphasize our sameness, not our 'terminal uniqueness'. I touched on this with my blog of nearly a year ago, "Beauty and the Beast".

Should a Mensan put that status on his resume? Conventional wisdom says, "no". Some people have an aversion to 'overly smart' people. Others might take it as a sort of challenge, to ask more difficult questions in a technical interview. Some people have preconceived notions that (e.g.) intellectuals are all pointy-headed liberals. In fact, Mensans fall into all parts of the political spectrum and all manner of religious/spiritual philosophies. Many letters to the Mensa magazine are Libertarian in nature. One cannot generalize anymore than with other groups. Is there a net benefit to MENSA? Not so much in my humble opinion -- this blog is probably the most public I've been with it. I do like the Mensa magazine -- how can you not appreciate heated, nerdy flame wars about evolution, cold fusion or atheism? I like that virtually any topic is on the table for discussion -- nothing is really off limits. Would I fit the social jigsaw puzzle better if I were 'normal'? I strongly suspect that I would, but that option wasn't on my 'standardized test'. I'll just have to carry on as I am -- in my surreal zone.