I realized that “Mensa” didn’t contain enough numerals to be a phone number, and knew it must be understood that any future member would be able to figure out the next two digits in the sequence. I tried dialling MENSANE, MENSAIL, MENSAFE, and MENSAAB, but got three rebuffs and a fax tone.
From “How I Joined MENSA” by Steve Martin
the mensa paradox.
people smart enough to get in, are smart enough to know it’s not worth it
Groucho Marx couldn’t have said it better. Oh … wait.
saying it with his voice is much better
however,
some things are better said in Groucho’s voice the rest are better said in Harpo’s voice.
It was actually a (too oblique) reference to his: I wouldn’t join a club that would have me as a member quotation. It was too oblique; my bad.
Bingo. What’s more insufferable than a person whose life revolves around lauding their own achievements? A room full of them.
And yet it exists. Ego might seem like a pretty useless motivator, but it doesn’t seems to anticorrelate with intelligence. If anything, it correlates, probably because when you’re “the smart one” it becomes a vicious cycle pretty easily.
it exist, but it’s like really small.
I’m theory, 2% of the world population is eligible (not that exclusive) yet they only have 50,000 members in the US, ie, 1.4 in every 10,000 people.
so the vast majority of “smart” people think the idea is cringe
maybe there’s a perfect point where you’re smart enough to hit that 15% hotel discount
Yeah, I’m reconsidering now that someone mentioned that. I’m not going to the meets, though.