High IQ society

{{bronze}}[[File:New logo large.png|165px|thumb|And why do they all use ''brains'' for their logos, anyway? Anyone who'd do that is obviously a very annoying person you wouldn't actually want to have anything to do with.]]{{psychology}}
{{cquote|People who boast about their IQ are losers.|||[[Stephen Hawking]]<ref>Deborah Solomon (December 12, 2004) [http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/12/magazine/the-science-of-secondguessing.html "The Science of Second-Guessing"]</ref>}}

A '''high [[IQ]] society''' is an organization that aims to limit its membership to people who are within a certain high percentile of [[IQ]] test results.  Insecure people who perform well on standardized tests join them in order to bolster their sense of being really [[Intelligence|intelligent]]. 

The oldest, largest, and best-known such society is Mensa International,<ref>[http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/09/08/quest.genius/ The Quest for Genius] at CNN, 2008-11-29</ref> which was founded by a couple of strangers on a train in 1946, who decided it would be more productive than killing each others' wives.{{fact|joke}} Other early societies are Intertel (founded by Ralph Haines in 1966), the International Society for Philosophical Enquiry (founded by Dr. Christopher Harding in 1974), the embarrassingly named Prometheus Society, and the even more embarrassingly named Mega Society (founded by Dr. Ronald K. Hoeflin in 1982). Getting into MENSA isn't an especially notable achievement. A lot of Playboy Bunnies, pro wrestlers, porn stars, [[White supremacy|white nationalists]], and {{wpl|Jimmy Savile}} have made the cut.

==The purpose of such societies==
Before the [[Internet]], meeting reasonably bright people could actually be quite a lot of work, so such societies were socially useful.

Currently, the primary purposes of these societies is to ensure that their members are not smart enough to realize that paying [[money]] for membership isn't that good a deal (the guest member fee for Mensa is £61, and just to take the test is £24<ref>[http://www.mensa.org.uk/iq-tests Mensa.org.uk - IQ Tests]</ref>). Mensa founder Lancelot Lionel Ware quit the group in the 1950s, and expressed his disappointment that so many Mensa meetings consist of puzzle solving, saying "It's a form of mental [[masturbation]]. Nothing comes of it."<ref>[http://www.economist.com/node/354772 Lancelot Ware]</ref> Science-fiction author and encyclopedia-that-gropes {{wpl|Isaac Asimov}} became involved in MENSA in the 1961 but eventually left because some Mensans were "brain-proud, and aggressive about their IQs ... they felt underappreciated and undersuccessful ... they were constantly jousting with each other, testing their intelligence on each other, and that sort of thing becomes wearying after a while."<ref>Isaac Asimov, ''I, Asimov: A Memoir'' (Doubleday: New York, 1992) pages 379-381 (chapter 121)</ref> He also decided that they were as likely to hold irrational beliefs or adopt right-wing politics as anyone else.

==Entry requirements==
High IQ societies typically accept a variety of standardized multiple guess tests. IQ is believed to follow a normal distribution. The average IQ score is set at 100, and recognized IQ tests can have different standard deviations. The more recognized tests will typically have a standard deviation (σ) of 15, 16 or 24 points. IQ estimation is prone to measurement error. Following best practice, at least two differently designed standardized tests (one of which should be supervised) should be administered. However, many high IQ societies including Mensa will accept admission via "prior evidence", which means that the applicant can submit proof of having achieved the required percentile for the society in question via the submission of a result from a list of acceptable tests (which may include academic as well as traditional IQ tests)<ref>http://www.us.mensa.org/join/testscores/qualifyingscores/</ref>. For instance, it would be possible for someone to submit an SAT, GRE, GMAT and LSAT <ref>[https://www.us.mensa.org/join/testscores/qualifying-test-scores/]</ref> score from over 20 years ago for admission to Mensa as long as the score was in the 98th percentile, even though that same person might fail a proctor-administered test if he or she were to attempt it at the time of application to the society.

Despite some conceptual inconsistencies in respect of admission to high IQ societies, online IQ tests are rarely accepted due to their questionable validity and comparability to established standardized IQ tests. In essence, most online IQ tests over-inflate IQ scores, which leads more online IQ test takers to believe they are geniuses, only to suffer disappointment the moment that they try to seek external validation of their online results by taking a proctor-administered, standardized IQ test. However, technological advances have made some IQ tests much more effective in recent years and the high number of test observations that can be generated online has helped online test developers to more accurately norm tests as to make the resulting IQ scores comparable to what the test taker might be capable of achieving on standardized IQ tests. IQ-Brain.com <ref>[http://www.iq-brain.com www.iq-brain.com]</ref> and testKidsIQ.com <ref>[https://www.testkidsiq.com www.testkidsiq.com]</ref>, for instance, have multiple IQ tests which the authors argue provide comparable results to proctor-administered test. IQ-Brain.com's tests have achieved recognition with some high IQ societies such as TenIQ.

==Issues with entry requirements==
The ceiling of most standardized (validated and normed) intelligence tests is around the 99.9th percentile (3.09σ, IQ~=149). This means that establishing IQ levels above 140 is extremely difficult, and likely to involve statistical distortion and measurement error. 

As a case study, consider that some clubs require an IQ level above the 99.99997th percentile. This is essentially impossible to measure since there are insufficient normative cases upon which to base a statistically-justified correlation.<ref>[http://olymp.iqsociety.org/?page_id=8 IQ measurement at the 99.99997th percentile]</ref> Assuming a United States of America population of 300 million, normal expectation for the number of persons with IQ over 175 (5σ above average) is about 90 individuals.  How smart do you have to be to work out that such very high IQ societies are ridiculous?

Given that high IQ societies tend to be [[incest]]uous, members will typically have sat tests multiple times, and will thus sport inflated scores &mdash; one meta-analysis reports that a person who scores in the 50th percentile on their first test will be to the 80th by their third.<ref>http://research3.bus.wisc.edu/file.php/151/hausknecht_trevor_jap.pdf</ref> It seems unlikely that merely sitting IQ tests magically makes you smarter, but if you are patient enough you can keep taking the entrance tests until you make the grade. Congratulations, you have now achieved a one in a million score on an obscure, unresearched IQ test! Unfortunately, this will be a costly process &mdash; test administrations can cost up to $60 &mdash; so you might want to consider printing and laminating a card that proclaims you a genius as a cost-effective alternative.

Other problems may arise as high-range online IQ test testers ask for the testees' previous IQ scores before they grade. The tester may use previous IQ scores as main factors to determine the testee's IQ associated with raw score. The tester may confer a false IQ score consistent with, or even lower than, the testee's previous IQ scores rather than delivering true score report based on the actual raw score that the testee got correct. Yet, there is no evidence or proof that the testers commit such dishonest act.

==Membership Declaration-Induced Temporary Psychosis (MDITP)==

Informing a non-member of a high IQ society that you are yourself a member of one — especially of Mensa, which people have ''heard of'' — will, in roughly 90% of the population, induce a state of temporary [[insanity]].  The patient will instantly begin spouting derogatory claims about membership of such societies, usually along the lines of being pretentious or boring,<ref>http://rationalwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=User_talk%3ACrundy&diff=588458&oldid=587515</ref> or how [[emotional intelligence]] is far more important than IQ, and then proclaim that they themselves took an IQ test (the origin of which is never specified<ref>http://rationalwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=User_talk%3ACrundy&diff=588466&oldid=588458</ref>) and they achieved an extremely high score (usually over 150), followed by an excuse as to why they will never take the test and become a member (often based around the dislike of a celebrity member<ref>http://rationalwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=User_talk%3ACrundy&diff=588695&oldid=588693</ref><ref>http://rationalwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=User_talk:Crundy&diff=prev&oldid=588690</ref>). This psychotic state of mind quickly subsides, and can be calmed with the suggestion of a trip to the [[Beer|local pub]].

==Too many societies==
The entrance criteria for IQ societies vary considerably. Some consider the nature of the tests they accept, ''i.e.'', whether the tests are primarily numerical, spatial, verbal, etc., and whether they are proctored or not. They all place great importance on how high one must score in order to acquire membership.<ref>[http://iqcomparisonsite.com/criteria.aspx Entrance Criteria for High IQ Societies]</ref><ref>[http://www.iqsociety.org/general/IQchart.pdf IQ comparison chart]</ref>

One indication of the proliferation of high IQ societies is that there's even a 
society
 network of them (a sort of meta-high IQ society) called the World Intelligence Network which encompasses 48 high IQ societies as of 2015.<ref>[http://www.iqsociety.org/win/societies/ World Intelligence Network list of member societies.] Retrieved 07-16-2015</ref>

Some notable societies, including Mensa, will accept the results of standardized tests taken elsewhere &mdash; except possibly online ones, which typically seem to give ''everyone'' 130–140 because they're usually pitched to the wrong age group and are non-standardized.<ref>[http://www.brainy-child.com/expert/iq-scores-reliability.shtml Brainy-child.com — Reliability of IQ Scores over Time, by By Inderbir Kaur Sandhu]</ref><ref>[http://www.guidetopsychology.com/testing.htm A Guide to Psychology and Practice]</ref>

The following list is sorted by percentile cutoff point for admission, and assumes the "general intelligence factor," ''g'', is normally distributed with μ = 100 and σ =15/16. 

===Top 10%===
*90th percentile; 1/10; IQ 119.22 σ=15 / 120.5 σ=16
**High IQ Forum<ref>[http://www.highiqforum.com/ High IQ Forum]. Retrieved 2015-12-12.</ref> - IQ oriented discussion forum where there is a verification process, but membership isn't restricted.
**Global High IQ Society<ref>[http://www.ghiqs.org/ GHIQS]</ref> Formerly known as TenIQ

===Top 5%===
*95th percentile; 1/20; IQ 124.67 σ=15 / 126.32 σ=16
** Orison-B High IQ Society<ref>[http://www.iqmind.org// Orison-B High IQ Society]. Retrieved 2012-12-12.</ref> — high IQ group for freedom of speech and free thinking
**AtlantIQ Society<ref>[http://atlantiqsociety.webs.com// AtlantIQ Society]. Retrieved 2010-4-15.</ref> — smart people who can't spell "Atlantic"
**International High IQ Society<ref>[http://www.highiqsociety.org/ International High IQ Society]. Retrieved 2011-08-03.</ref> — at this range, they barely qualify
**omIQami Society<ref>[http://omiqamisociety.webs.com/ omIQami society]''. Retrieved 2010-5-13.</ref> — smart [[Japan]]ese people

===Top 3% ===
*97th percentile; 1/33; IQ 128 σ=15 / 130 σ=16
**Alta Capacidad Hispana<ref>[http://www.altacapacidadhispana.sub.es/ Alta Capacidad Hispana]. Retrieved 2010-4-15.</ref>
**Deepbrain Society<ref>[http://deepbrainsociety.org/ Deepbrain Society]. Retrieved 2010-4-15.</ref> — also requires "Postgraduate university degree with full grades (top scores)"

===Top 2% ===
*98th percentile; 1/50; IQ 130.81 σ=15 / 132.86 σ=16; +2σ
**AtheistIQ<ref>[http://atheistiq.webs.com/ AtheistIQ]. Retrieved 2010-4-15.</ref> — AtheistIQ was originally founded by Robert Dawson, although he appears to have retired from the affairs of the club in favour of serial high IQ society founder Martin Lithner. The club website lists 44 members,<ref>http://www.freewebs.com/atheistiq/apps/members/membersList?q=&view=grid&sort=PERMISSIONS&offset=2</ref> though it has not been updated since 2010. 
**Encefálica Society<ref>[http://www.encefalica.sub.es/ Encefálica Society]. Retrieved 2010-4-15.</ref> — Smart [[Spanish]] people who are too stupid to realize that autoplaying sound on your homepage is not a sign of brilliance.
**Greatest Minds<ref>''[http://www.gmsociety.tk/ Greatest Minds]</ref> — Autoplaying [[music]] is lame.  Has about 20 members.  Features image of [[Albert Einstein]], smartest human ever, as we all know.
**High Potentials Society<ref>[http://www.highpotentialssociety.org/Society/society.html High Potentials Society]. Retrieved 2010-4-15.</ref> — Founded in 2002 by Max Tiefenbacher, the HPS now boasts an impressive 420 members from 35 different countries. Some of these members might be slightly imaginary (eg., "Darb" from the [[USA]]). The HPS charges no price for entry and publishes a free magazine (''InsideOut'') for members, quite unusual among high IQ societies. For those who are interested, the society's homepage hosts some reasonably constructed IQ tests.<ref>http://www.highpotentialssociety.org/Society/Qualification/Tests_Overview/HPS_Tests/hps_tests.html</ref>  However, these should only be used to observe what entrance tests to high IQ societies typically look like, rather than properly normed IQ tests, which they almost definitely are not.
**Ingenium High IQ Society<ref>[http://ingeniumsociety.tk Ingenium High IQ Society]</ref> — Their site, at least, appears to be properly spelled and competently designed.  They even have at least 50 or so members.  They also let less intelligent people "observe" them: "If your IQ is close to the 98th percentile you can become a subscriber to the society."  How nice.  Also, they have a really nicely crafted favicon. 
**IQual Society<ref>[http://www.iqualsociety.com IQual Society]. Retrieved 2010-4-15.</ref> — The IQual society was created by merging two other high IQ societies: the Tenths society and the Bright Minds society. The catchphrase of the society is "Join us to the evolution." Be warned, anyone predisposed to seizures should avoid the IQual homepage.
**IQuestion Society<ref>[http://iquestion.webs.com IQuestion Society]. Retrieved 2010-4-15.</ref> — Created to allow Mensa members join the World Intelligence Network.
**'''Mensa International'''<ref>[http://www.mensa.org/ Mensa International]</ref> — By far the best known of all the high IQ societies. The Rolex watch of the High IQ World.
**Mysterium Society<ref>[http://www.mysteriumsociety.org Mysterium Society]. Retrieved 2010-4-15.</ref> — "Mysterium, not for the common genius." An awe-inspiring song autoplays on the society's homepage as soon as it is loaded, presumably composed by the society's founder Greg A. Grove, Professor of Music. In an interview transcribed on the site Professor Groves remarks — in a moment of lucidity — that measuring IQ scores above 140 is likely "somewhat meaningless" and any score above 120 will involve "statistical distortion."<ref>http://www.mysteriumsociety.org/ggroveinterview.html</ref> One is led to wonder why he would then found a society that requires an IQ score of 130 for entry. The society's mantra "Mysterium is beyond outer space, inner space, and cyberspace." This ensures it is hard to determine whether this society is gently poking fun at itself, or an [[Poe's Law|outright caricature]].

===Top 1% ===
*99th percentile; 1/100; IQ 135 σ=15 / 137 σ=16
**Chorium<ref>[http://chorium.synthasite.com/ Chorium]</ref> — a site that promotes "intellectual engagement among musicians." Their website is relatively sane, but does include the obligatory email links to the "administrator." Membership requires proof, in many allowed ways, of an IQ of roughly 140, as well as a music test.
**Elateneo/s Society<ref>[http://elateneos.awardspace.com/ Elateneo/s Society].</ref> — A society founded by a fourteen-year-old (Andrés Gómez Emilsson) in 2005.  Its stated goal is to "create a community where similar beings can communicate without restrictions."  An ambitious goal, especially considering its website is hosted on a free web server.
**Intertel<ref>[http://www.intertel-iq.org/ Intertel]. Retrieved 2011-08-03.</ref> — Established in 1966 and claiming over 1200 members in thirty countries, although members are mainly located in the US with only one of the society's eight regions devoted to international members. The society publishes a journal called ''Integra'' and regions also tend to publish their own newsletters. One of the few societies that is obviously a serious endeavour, although reading some of the poetry, uninformed speculation on intelligence and general bilge on their website may call their entrance standards into question.
**The Mind Society<ref>[http://www.highiqmind.com/ The Mind Society] Retrieved 2010-5-01.</ref> — A reclusive society whose catchphrase is "Kindness meets mindedness." Not much else is known about the society except that they fiercely maintain their independence from other high IQ societies.
**Top One Percent Society (TOPS)<ref>[http://www.toponesociety.com/ Top One Percent Society]. Retrieved 2011-08-03.</ref> — Another society founded by Ronald Hoefflin, in 1989. TOPS started as a printed journal called ''In-Genius'' but metamorphised into a society with a journal now called ''Termite''. TOPS has a strong online presence, for the average high IQ society, with both a LinkedIn and Facebook page.  Unlike most high IQ societies, TOPS doesn't require any sort of payment.
**Ergo Society — A society dedicated to solving problems through creative applications of logic.
**UNIQ Society<ref>[http://uniq.vze.com/ UNIQ Society]. Retrieved 2010-4-15.</ref>

===Top 0.5% ===
*99.5th percentile; 1/200; IQ 139 σ=15 / 141 σ=16
**Colloquy<ref>[https://groups.io/g/colloquy]. Retrieved 2011-08-03.</ref> — Founded by Julia Cachia with the intention of being a high IQ society exclusively based on the Internet. The original website (http://colloquysociety.org/) contains a mountain of interviews and essays, although the external links don't always work, suggesting that the site is not well-maintained. A meta-narrative that underpins much of the writings on the site is the requirement for civil discourse. Living the high IQ life is often dangerous; clearly the site's founders were mistreated by the barbarians in other societies. Colloquy migrated to the groups.io platform in May 2019.  
**Poetic Genius Society<ref>[http://poeticgenius.org/]. Retrieved 2010-4-15.</ref> — Another artistically orientated high IQ society founded by Dr. Greg Groves. The journal of the Poetic Genius Society is named "Apotheosis".  Membership eligibility is based on scoring at the 99.5th percentile level on any of several IQ or standardized tests, as well as one's publication of poetry. The seemingly stringent former requirement is offset by the somewhat lax definition of "published", which could even include "high school poetry magazines".<ref>[http://poeticgenius.org/qualify/ Poetic Genius: Qualify?]</ref>

===Top 0.37% ===
*99.63rd percentile; 1/270; IQ 140 σ=15 / 143 σ=16
**HispanIQ International Society<ref>[http://www.hisociety.sub.es/ HispanIQ International Society]. Retrieved 2010-4-15.</ref>
**Infinity International Society (IIS)<ref>[http://www.iisiq.org/ Infinity International Society]. Retrieved 2010-4-15.</ref> — Quotes from Einstein, trippy introduction page, creepy autoplaying music and the word infinity in the society's name; the IIS has all the trappings of self-aggrandising IQ societies. The IIS was founded in 2007, and has grown to include several hundred members. The society doesn't publish any journal, instead  preferring to share a private forum with ePiq (another high IQ society) for members to share their insights.

===Top 0.33% ===
*99.666th percentile; 1/333; IQ 140 σ=15 / 143 σ=16
**Xeptiona<ref>''[https://xeptiona.weebly.com/ Xeptiona]''. Retrieved 2017-12-04.</ref> — An unknown society. Their webpage only consists of a braggish description and a contact field. Its design is good compared to the average society. Oh, and the page is hosted by Weebly...

===Top 0.3% ===
*99.7th percentile; 3/1,000; IQ 141 σ=15 / 144 σ=16
**Cerebrals Society<ref>''[http://www.cerebrals.org/wp/ Cerebrals Society]''. Retrieved 2011-08-03.</ref> — Another high IQ society striving to use their obvious greatness to help humanity. In an act of staggering compassion the society allows idiots, who can only score better than 99% of the population, to join their society as lowly subscribers. At one point they even allowed active forum members to become associates but evidently no one jumped at the opportunity to eat their intellectual scraps, so they canned the position. The society is pretty much dead, with only occasional forums posts. The admissions inbox has been full for years and the administrator doesn't reply to PMs. The public message board doesn't seem to have anyone looking after it now and is full of spam.

===Top 0.2% ===
*99.8th percentile; 1/500; IQ 143 σ=15 / 146 σ=16
**ePiq Society<ref>''[http://www.epiqsociety.net/home.htm ePiq Society]''. Retrieved 2011-9-17.</ref> — The first test of admission into the ePiq society is to pronounce the founder's name — Chris Chsioufis. "The webpage design is well actualised. The colour selections seem to emphasize the nature of this society. Which is sophisticated, cultivated and there prevails a learned atmosphere."<ref>http://www.cerebrals.com/board/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1953</ref> — a devoted ePiq society fan. The society seems to act as a subsidiary arm of the Infinity International Society, with slightly higher entry standards.
**exactiq High IQ Society<ref>''[http://exact.iqsociety.org/ exactiq High IQ Society]''. Retrieved 2011-9-27.</ref> — Founded in 2008 the exactiq society has recently acknowledged that the society is more interested in completing and designing spatial puzzles than serious conversations or measuring intelligence. Though this society used to require a 99.8th percentile score on a test their entrance standards are now more esoteric; the society states that if you are happy with your score on a test you can send it in and they will decide whether you pass muster. 
**Neurocubo<ref>''[http://s219092175.mialojamiento.es/neurocubo/index.html Neurocubo]''. Retrieved 2010-4-15.</ref>

===Top 0.13% ===
*99.87th percentile; 13/10,000; IQ 145 σ=15 / 148 σ=16; +3σ
**Artistic Minds Society (Artifex Mens Congregatio)<ref>''[http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ArtisticMindsSociety/ Artistic Minds Society Artistic Minds Society]''. Retrieved 2011-10-7.</ref> — Another high IQ society that relies heavily on judicious use of the [[Latin]] language to demonstrate their intellectual superiority. The society has a forum and message board for members to communicate; however, recently the activity on both has been minimal and their main website has disappeared, indicating that the society may no longer be active. 
**CIVIQ Society<ref>''[http://civ.iqsociety.org/ CIVIQ Society]''. Retrieved 2011-08-03.</ref> — The CIVIQ society was founded in 2001 to help the intellectually gifted overcome the handicaps associated with their affliction. Apart from this noble — if slightly misguided — mission CIVIQ is another standard member society of the World Intelligence Network.
**Torr <ref>''[https://torr.org/ Torr]''. Retrieved 2019-11-19.</ref> - Torr is a modern micro social network intended to stimulate original ideas, awaken and develop talent throughout the world, provide fellowship, and ensure a better appreciation of the arts and sciences.
**UberIQ <ref>''[http://uberiq.org/ UberIQ]''. Retrieved 2016-07-13.</ref> - An online forum for supposedly exceptionally intelligent individuals.  New users must submit test results and $20 to join.

===Top 0.1% ===

*99.9th percentile; 1/1,000; IQ 146 σ=15 / 149 σ=16
**Glia Society<ref>''[http://www.paulcooijmans.com/gliasociety/]''. Retrieved 2011-10-25.</ref> — Did you know Einstein had more glial cells than the average person? If so you might be a potential member of the Glia society, because only geniuses know that Einstein was the smartest person to ever exist. There is so much cringeworthy content on the website that narrowing down the juiciest nuggets is hard. The name of their journal, which guarantees "absolute freedom of speech" (let's hope pædophiles don't find out) sounds like a member with a severe speech impediment thought it up while ordering a "thcoth on the rockth". They have an animated presentation on the founding of the club, with original music composed by founder Paul Cooijmans, should one wish to research the society's philosophy. Ominously — perhaps presciently — part of the website is appropriately titled "mind games" — like so many societies of this kind it is hard for us to distinguish between self-caricature and earnestness.
**International High IQ Society Milenija<ref>''[http://milenija.generiq.net/ International High IQ Society Milenija]''. Retrieved 2010-4-15.</ref> — Their webpage is a work of art, a poignant look back at the worst of GeoCities webpages from the 90s. This society is part of a small group of societies founded by Mislav Predavec, including GenerIQ and Tetra. They all accept a similar array of tests as proof of entry; these tests are fine illustrations of the common pitfalls which beset high IQ society tests. For example the norm groups of most proclaim that simply by getting a raw score of 1 you have an IQ above 120.
**International Society for Philosophical Enquiry<ref>''[http://www.thethousand.com/ International Society for Philosophical Enquiry]''. Retrieved 2011-8-3.</ref>
**IQuadrivium Society<ref>''[http://iquadrivium.spruz.com/ IQuadrivium Society]''. Retrieved 2011-12-3.</ref> — If there is one thing that every high IQ society member knows, it's that Einstein was and will be the smartest human being that ever existed. Obviously the IQuadrivium society is no different, with a picture of Albert on the mainpage as well as an obligatory list of Einstein quotes, many of which are misattributed. The society claims that if it were around 50 years ago then Einstein would probably have joined the society; an undisputable fact. Their website keeps a list of the top 20 active contributors — as of 2011-12-3, 2 people are on the list, with a grand total of 1 'recent activity item' each; a sign of a bustling, robust society.
**LOGIQ Society<ref>''[http://www.obscurum.se/LOGIQ.html LOGIQ Society]''. Retrieved 2010-4-15.</ref> — Another member of the World Intelligence Network, LOGIQ was founded in 2010 by poet, inventor, author and all-round polymath Martin Lithner. According to Lithner, [[Galileo gambit|“ridicule is the tribute paid to genius by the mediocrities”]]. Does this mean that Scientologists and World of Warcraft addicts are geniuses? Is his society primarily composed of furries and blondes? Unfortunately the society’s (relatively active) forum doesn’t allow guest access so our questions remain unanswered.
**One-in-a-Thousand Society<ref>''[http://www.oathsociety.com/ One-in-a-Thousand Society]''. Retrieved 2010-4-15.</ref> — Another High IQ society founded by the prolific Ronald Hoeflin which seems to operate through Yahoo groups. On 04-11-2012 the society's homepage had 55886 hits, but appears to have been largely abandoned as evidenced by the broken links and poorly set up site structure.
**Triple Nine Society<ref>''[http://www.triplenine.org Triple Nine Society]''. Retrieved 2011-08-03.</ref> — The Triple Nine Society seems like a serious endeavour to create a high IQ society with a constitution and a journal named "Vidya". The society is kind enough to post the political views of the membership;<ref>http://www.triplenine.org/poll/index.html</ref> they believe that gun control restrictions should be eased, the government should apologise to Microsoft for anti-trust lawsuits, affirmative action should be illegal, there should be no restrictions on human cloning but some restrictions on genetic engineering of animals (presumably to avoid bio-engineered manticore/griffin armies), the death penalty should be used more and most support the use of war when "US Vital Interests Are Threatened". Obviously the membership primarily comes from the US, the smartest country on the planet.

===Top 0.07% ===

*99.93th percentile; 7/10,000; IQ 148 σ=15 / 151 σ=16
**ISI-Society<ref>''[http://www.isi-s.com/ ISI-Society]''.  Retrieved 2010-4-15.</ref> — Remarkably the obligatory quote on the front page of the ISI-society homepage is ''not'' from Einstein.  The name of the society (ISI-S) references Isis, an ancient Egyptian goddess. The society hosts a journal named ''Chiaroscuro'', for which they have online access up until the start of 2008.  ''Chiaroscuro'' is primarily filled with the poetry, imagery, art and other creative works of the membership.  For several years the society has been a member of ubiquitous World Intelligence Network.

===Top 0.06% ===
*99.94th percentile; 3/5,000; IQ 149 σ=15 / 152 σ=16
**Epida<ref>''[http://epida.webs.com/ Epida]''. Retrieved 2010-4-15.</ref> — Another member of the World Intelligence Network, Epida gets its name from converting the number of standard deviations away from the mean you need to score on an IQ test to join the society.  This totally doesn't feel contrived at all. If you score lower than the necessary joining figure you can enlist as a 'prospective member', implying that they allow you to retake tests until you get the score you need to join the society. This is a strange, if not admirable, position for a high IQ society.

===Top 0.02% ===
*99.98th percentle; 1/5000; IQ 153 σ=15 / 157 σ=16
**sPIqr<ref>''[http://spiqrsociety.webs.com/index.htm/ sPIqr]''. Retrieved 2010-4-15.</ref> — Established by the autodidact writer, economist and amateur mathematician Marco Ripà with the aim of helping gifted children inside the school. At the moment, it is the most exclusive high IQ society located in Italy.

===Top 0.009% ===
*99.991st percentile; 9/100,000; IQ 156 σ=15 / 160 σ=16
**Coeus<ref>''[http://www.coeus.tk Coeus]''. Retrieved 2010-4-15.</ref>
**Hall Of The Ancients<ref>''[http://www.hota.co.nr/ Hall Of The Ancients]''. Retrieved 2010-4-15.</ref> — Founded by a psychic and advocates pseudo-eugenics as well as authoritarianism, oh boy. Apparently all decisions for the common man should be made by the smartest .001% of the population. If Mensa is the Rolex of high IQ clubs then this one is the totally legitimate "Rollex" that you bought from the flea market.
**Vertex<ref>''[http://www.damjanovic.org/160/ Vertex]''. Retrieved 2010-5-06.</ref>

===Top 0.003% ===
*99.997th percentile; 3/100,000; IQ 160 σ=15 / 164 σ=16; +4σ
**Epimetheus Society <ref>''[http://epimetheussociety.com Epimetheus Society]''. Retrieved 2011-08-03.</ref>
**ERGO Society<ref>''[http://www.incognia.org/ergo.swf ERGO Society]''. Retrieved 2010-5-08.</ref> — The people who devote days of their life to finishing complex puzzles are the real heroes. Ergo was set up to reward these self-sacrificing doyens of high IQ societies with free access to more complex puzzles for them to solve, ostensibly to assist with norming. Don't think too hard about that concept or it starts to resemble unpaid work.
**Homo Universalis Society<ref>''[http://www.homouniversalis.org Homo Universalis Society]''. Retrieved 2010-4-15.</ref>  
**Prometheus Society <ref>''[http://prometheussociety.org/ Prometheus Society]''. Retrieved 2011-08-03.</ref> — Established in 1982 by the ubiquitous Ronald K. Hoeflin. Strangely enough the society no longer accepts either the Mega or the Titan test (created by Hoeflin) as proof of IQ for membership applications. Turns out allowing an untimed, unsupervised test of intelligence isn’t very ‘smart’.
**Tetra Society<ref>''[http://tetra.generiq.net Tetra Society]''. Retrieved 2010-4-15.</ref>
**HELLIQ society<ref>''[http://hell.iqsociety.org/introduction/]''. Retrieved 2011-10-4</ref>

===Top 0.001% ===
*99.999th percentile; 1/100,000; IQ 164 σ=15 / 168 σ=16
**Eximia High IQ Society<ref>''[http://www.eximiahighiqsociety.org/ Eximia High IQ Society]''. Retrieved 2010-4-15.</ref>
**The Ultranet<ref>''[http://www.ultrahiq.net/ The Ultranet]''. Retrieved 2010-4-15.</ref>
**The Highly Genius World Society - THGWS<ref>"http://highlygeniusworld-com.webnode.vn" . Retrieved 2016-8-12.</ref>

=== Top 0.0001% ===
*99.9999th percentile; 1/1,000,000; IQ 172 σ=15 / 176 σ=16
**GenerIQ Society<ref>''[http://generiq.net GenerIQ Society]''. Retrieved 2010-4-15.</ref>
**Incognia<ref>''[http://www.incognia.sub.es/ Incognia]''. Retrieved 2010-4-15.</ref>
**Mega Society<ref>''[http://www.megasociety.org/ Mega Society]''</ref> — Their website sends conflicting messages of "I don't realize that most people have broadband connections and it is now okay to use advanced HTML" and "We store everything in PDF so I hope your internet connection chokes!".  They are one of the only high IQ societies pretentious enough to have a constitution.<ref>[http://megasociety.org/constitution.htm Constitution of the Mega Society].  Accessed 05-17-2010.  If you think that's silly, you should learn what it was like ''before'' they had a constitution—they put a bunch of really smart people in the same room, and no one had any idea what to do.</ref>  In spite of these shortcomings, they are one of the more well-recognized high IQ organizations.
**Omega Society<ref>[http://www.theomegasociety.com/ Omega Society]''. Retrieved 2010-4-15.</ref>
**Pi Society<ref>''[http://www.lygeros.org/PI.html Pi Society]''</ref> — That with a name like "Pi Society" they are not a math club is a crime against all math nerds everywhere.  We condemn them for their crappy website.  However, we commend them for recognizing that not all smart people speak English and providing select pages in another language.<ref>"[http://www.lygeros.org/mclassification.html M. Classification]", for example.  Whatever the hell "M. Classification" is.</ref>

=== Top 0.00003% ===
[[File:Parssociety.jpg|right|250px|thumb|Picture on the front page of the Pars Society website. This raises some interesting questions:  Why red? Why the one chair by itself? Is it supposed to represent the isolation and loneliness geniuses feel from general society? Is the coloring contrast supposed to imply that really smart people are a beacon of color in a monotonous society? Why are some of the other chairs stacked up — are they having sex? We could go on all day.]]
*99.99997th percentile; 3/10,000,000; IQ 175 σ=15 / 180 σ=16; +5σ
**OLYMPIQ Society<ref>''[http://olymp.iqsociety.org/ OLYMPIQ Society]''</ref> — Consisted of 13 people in 2010,<ref>[http://olymp.iqsociety.org/?page_id=36 Olympians]. Retrieved 05-17-2010</ref> but showing stellar growth by welcoming its 33rd member by 2015.<ref>[http://olymp.iqsociety.org/olympians/ Olympians]. Retrieved 07-16-2015</ref> (Seriously, people, when your organization has, in five years, only managed to grow from a baker's dozen to ''almost'' three dozen and your official website's "social impact" consists of a smattering of Facebook and Google+ likes and a few Twitter followers, it doesn't matter that you've changed it from saying "powered by WordPress" to "powered by the World Intelligence Network" at the bottom, it's time to suck it up and join MENSA or any of the other well-recognized high IQ societies.) Its founder, Dr. Evangelos G. Katsioulis, MD, MSc, PhD, is the only confirmed member of the Pars Society listed below.<ref>[http://olymp.iqsociety.org/?page_id=38 Dr Evangelos G. Katsioulis, MD, MSc, PhD].  Retrieved 05-17-2010.</ref>
**Pars Society<ref>''[http://www.theparssociety.org/ Pars Society]''</ref> — Exists only as a clearly abandoned website.<ref>It has only three pages—the [http://www.theparssociety.org/ foyer], the [http://www.theparssociety.org/pars.html "about us"] page, and [http://www.theparssociety.org/membership.html a page with a list on it].</ref>  Which is a pity, because they have lots of things going for them: their main page has an awesome picture on it (a chair surrounded by—get this—''more chairs''), their logo looks like the deformed cousin of the National Geographic logo, and they enjoy capitalizing random words.<ref>"''... High Intelligence Society...''"  Also, "''The word "Pars" is the name of The Anatolian Leopard  panthera pardus tulliana, which is known for its Power and Rarity. Pars symbolises BrainPower''[sic]'' and Rarity of our Members.''" From their [http://www.theparssociety.org/pars.html description page].  Retrieved 05-17-2010.</ref> The Pars Society claims to represent people from over 17 countries, yet suspiciously fails to provide a membership list.<ref>Our theory? One guy with a lot of passports. Or maybe 8 people with dual citizenship.</ref> And ''again'', the website is in English only, even though the webmaster is clearly not a native speaker — maybe he assumes English is the language of Smart People?
**Society Extreme Intelligence [sic]<ref>''[https://web.archive.org/web/20120308041845/http://www.seti.co.nr/ Society Extreme Intelligence]'' (archive.org - site defunct ca.2012)</ref> — Claims to be founded by "COSMiQ contactee" Brennan Marti(a)n on February 7th 2010. The website is curiously blog-like in appearance and the text formatting is reminiscent of [[Time Cube]].

=== Top 0.000000001% ===

*99.999999999th percentile; 1/1,000,000,000; IQ 190 σ=15 / 196 σ=16; +6σ
**Giga Society<ref>''[http://www.gigasociety.com/ Giga Society]''</ref> — Complete with a website straight out of 1990s-era GeoCities, the Giga Society claims to represent people who would outdo 99.999999999% of the whole population in an IQ test. There are some caveats as to why this wouldn't represent only 7 people, such as fluctuation and people constantly leaving and joining as time passes, but generally the membership isn't likely to break into double figures very often. As the audience is global and the website is entirely in English, a language only about one billion people speak, one assumes about 6/7 of their potential audience will miss the point entirely (unless we make the assumption that anyone with that high an IQ will be fluent in several, if not all, languages, particularly one as widely used as English). The site is probably a [[Poe's Law|parody]], since it claims to have "t-mail" from future members sent back in time to the present, which, at the very least, is a hilarious read. They also tactfully acknowledge on their main page that while "[you] can not join by simply listing your real-life achievements, diplomas and the like, ...you are of course of greater value to society because of those than you would be because of a high test score."

=== Top 0.000000000001% ===
*99.999999999999th percentile; 1/1,000,000,000,000; IQ 205 σ=15 / 212 σ=16; +7σ
**Tera Society<ref>''[https://sites.google.com/site/terasociety/ Tera Society]''</ref> — Tera Society caters for the highest genetic potential IQ from all the ''Homo sapiens sapiens'' who have ever been conceived. (The wanky trinomial name should give you an idea of the sort of people who are behind this endeavor.) The logic of this society runs something like this. For every live birth, there are 7 to 9 conceptions. It has been estimated that a total of 80–120 billion people have been born. Ergo, there has been the genetic potential for approximately one trillion ''H.s.s.'' As IQ tests measure a certain phenotype of an individual, statistically it is expected that one person has been conceived with an IQ this high, although not necessarily born. If the Tera Society runs over the next 500,000 years of ''H.s.s.'' history it is expected to cater to up to nine members. The Tera Society is seen as the upper limit of IQ societies, and is contrasted with the pico society that is looking at the left side of the [[Normal|bell curve]] for IQ for one in a trillion conceptions. These people will, interestingly, have mildly ''negative'' IQs.
*Emma S. and Morgan J. are the only two people currently in the Tera Society. (Initials provided to protect privacy.)

==See also==
*[[Brain]]
*[[Elitism]]

==External links==
*[http://www.high-iq.net/ The internet's most comprehensive list of high IQ societies and umbrella stands]
*[http://www.iqsocieties.com/ Lots of high IQ societies]
*[http://miyaguchi.4sigma.org/BloodyHistory/history.html A short (and bloody) history of the high IQ societies]

==References==
{{Reflist|3|80%}}

[[Category:Organizations]]
[[Category:Shysters]]
[[Category:Best of amusement]]

Categories: Organizations, Shysters, Best of amusement