From: Mike_Steiner@qm.claris.com (Mike Steiner)
Newsgroups: alt.personals
Subject: Re: Seeking Brilliant Women
Date: 16 Apr 92 22:10:31 GMT
Distribution: na

In article <1992Apr16.173633.21232@news.cso.uiuc.edu>, murphy@symcom.math.uiuc.edu (Michael L. Murphy) writes:
> 
> In article <14177@claris.com> Mike_Steiner@qm.claris.com (Mike Steiner) writes:
> >In article <1992Apr11.002045.5783@ans.net>, weider@news.ans.net (Chris Weider) writes:
> >>
> >> I am a MWM seeking correspondence with devestatingly intelligent women.
> >
> >Try rec.org.mensa; all the women there are devistatingly intelligent.
> 
> However, the men there can't spell, right?  :)
> (Try "devastatingly", gentlemen.)

Yes, some of us are dyslexic and have problems with spelling.

> >They don't think that IQ test define the whole of human intellect; if they did,
> >they wouldn't be in, or interested in, Mensa.
> 
> Mensa's entrance qualifications depend directly on your scores from IQ tests.
> *Someone* in Mensa must have the idea that intelligence and scores on
> standardized tests are somehow highly correlated.

True, but that doesn't mean that IQ defines the whole of human intelect.

> My IQ score in grade school was ~150, my scores on the SAT and ACT were
> 1410 and 32.  In Mensa's eyes, those scores make me able to join their
> organization based on my intellect - but at the very most, all those scores
> can prove is that I may be some sort of idiot savant (no pun intended)
> who has the ability to score very high on standardized tests.  If you
> only had those three pieces of information about me, how could you say
> with any assurance that I could *act* like an "intelligent person"?
> (You can't.)

Usually an idiot savant excels in only one area--math, music, etc.--doing
well on multiple-choice tests may be a knack or a talent, but it doesnt' fall
under the category of idiot savant, IMO.  You're right in that I can't say
with assurance that you could act like an intelligent person--no more than
you can tell me how an intelligent person should act.

> Part of intelligence is the ability to interact with other human beings
> in a composed and relaxed manner.  I often found this ability lacking
> in Mensa members when I was a member, a long, long time ago.  The only
> real way to find intelligent people is to search for them, because
> intelligence has different meanings to different people.

Some Mensans lack that ability; most Mensans do have that ability.  However,
I wouldn't include that ability under the definition of intelligence.  You're
right; the only way to find intelligent people is to search for them, but it
does make a difference where you search.  If you're searching for muscular
people, you might be better off searching in a gym than in a library.  If
you're searching for tall people, you might be better off searching at a
meeting of a tall-club than in a shopping mall.

> rec.org.mensa may be the place for you to search, but only if you believe
> that intelligence can be defined by one's syllogism-forming and pattern-
> matching ability on a multiple-choice IQ test.

There is more to the tests than that, and there are other tests that don't
necessarily test those facets of intelligence.

> Let me throw this by you, just to give an example:  I think that Larry
> Margolis and little 'e' are two of the most intelligent people on
> alt.personals.  I wonder if most Mensa members would agree...

Based on their messages, I would agree.  Why don't you drop in to
rec.org.mensa and read some of the messagess that litte 'e' has written there?