Community Chat

[Q4u]

Wow, just wow....

My oldest son is a Motorcycle guy and rides a tricked out Harley.  He also repairs motorcycles and (mainly) European autos (with complicated computer systems).

AND he tutors Physics at MIT via Skype!

He keeps going to the local college and passing the Physics levels.... he's up to Physics 22 or so (I've lost track).  He's been tutoring for a couple of years now and has actually had the Dean (of MIT) ask if he'd take an entire class or two via Skype. Which he has....  At one point during his Physics testing, he was asked to take an IQ test.  He complied and they came back and asked if he wouldn't mind taking another one... and he did.  

The result was an astounding 164 IQ (think Steven Hawkings).

Without applying, he received an invitation to join MENSA.   It's not something he is inclined to do but he was flattered.

Meanwhile he's taught himself German, Spanish and is working on Gaelic and Hebrew.  On the side he's working on complicated Physics problems that (if solved) would open up an entirely new way of thinking about our world.  

He has quite a few very good friends and lifetime friends and he's a wonderful friend and son.  He's kind, very funny and charming and the girls (especially) flock to him.  

I can say first hand that someone with a high IQ 

[Q4u]

I can say first hand that someone with an excessively high IQ isn't necessarily what some in this thread think.....  

[sidsmom]

Fun to Goggle "celebrity mensa'.

Some might be a surprise to everyone...

[brii]

Apparently, you don't need a high IQ to post here. Supposedly, she has a friend who is a mod.

SMH

[GingerPeach]

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@Campion wrote:

I could tell you stories from high school about this kind of meanness. And it wasn't mostly from the students--it was from the teachers and administration. I actually dropped out and started my own high school with some like-minded friends. One too many incidents of ridicule, and I stood up, walked to the principal's office and checked out of there.

People react with envy or feel diminished out of a mistaken belief that if someone is "better" at something, it makes you worse. Well, it doesn't. Each of us does the best we can. Someone ALWAYS does better than me. It doesn't make me worse, and someone doing less well doesn't make me superior. 

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So true, @Campion

This is the almost identical type of thinking that some exhibit when someone says "I like A" and the next person immediately believes that this statement is the same as saying "I don't like B."  I just wrote about this on another thread yesterday.

It's a shame that there is so much emphasis on ratings and winning and making so much into a contest.  I think it's more prevalent here than in some countries.

[Lindsays Grandma]

The only member of the Mensa Society I knew was my former husband who I had to divorce because he was physically abusive.  He also was proud he didn't have common sense because he didn't want to be common . This was a man who was well educated but unfortunately the only smarts he had were book learned.  How sad that a person with a good education and a successful career found it necessary to beat his wife whenever he had a few drinks. 

I certainly do not look down on or degrade anyone who is a Mensa member because of his behavior or actions.

[Campion]

"This is the almost identical type of thinking that some exhibit when someone says "I like A" and the next person immediately believes that this statement is the same as saying "I don't like B."  I just wrote about this on another thread yesterday."

Oh--yes, that. I am always so perplexed by this kind of reaction. The need to defend something that people think reflects on their ego. It's an annoying trait and it more or less negates what the first person is trying to say.  

[Campion]

Hey, my dad was brilliant but he was a mean guy. We never could figure out why he was so nasty--and his sister was apparently just as bad (we didn't see much of her until she reconciled with him before his death.) Her daughter made one remark after Aunt died that revealed a similar experience.

Intelligence has nothing to do with emotional behavior. You get that partly from birth (yes, personalities have some "hard wiring.") And you get it from how you are raised: your parents tolerate some behavior and discourage other behavior, just as you train a dog not to bite and bark. And your environment determines some of it.  

There is a really good book, in fact "Emotional Intelligence" with some quizzes, etc, that test your "EQ." Believe me, when I train people at work, this is what I am evaluating. How able are they to adapt, to control themselves, to work with people, to maintain a good attitude in a challenging career. That's where the coaching heads off too--not factual information but strategies how to cope.  And some cannot. 

[novamc1]

Have only made it through several pages of this "discussion", and have decided it is about as low as a discussion can get in this internet venue.  Disrespect for seemingly sincere questions and unwarranted snide remarks about "intellect" seem tasteless and downright dumb to me. 

Sometimes, adult discussions are harder to conduct than one with a small grandchild.

[Lila Belle]

It sounds like it would be an interesting event, Marp !