Reflections by an ordinarily gifted adult

[Ostronomos]

(Why do I pride myself on the fact that I'm Mensa material? Setting that aside...)

Have you ever found cause to question what any single individual accepts as the norm for no other reason other than it differs from your own? Why do we hold the subjective aspect of ourselves as a priority over the objective? Is the objective only an appearance of good? Is this not the same as vanity and is that justifiable in any way?

[Yazata]

(Why do I pride myself on the fact that I'm Mensa material? Setting that aside...)

Seems to me that people who are smart enough to be in mensa typically aren't all that interested in joining mensa. They don't need to show off. Being smart involves a lot more than passing a test and carrying a mensa card. Intelligence is something that has to be performed in the course of one's life.

Have you ever found cause to question what any single individual accepts as the norm for no other reason other than it differs from your own?

Yes.

Why do we hold the subjective aspect of ourselves as a priority over the objective?

Probably because many issues aren't questions of objective fact. Right and wrong, beautiful and ugly...

Certainly there's a social aspect to these kind of things. We typically agree with how our community feels about them. Our tastes and sensibilities can be educated to some extent. I might be unmoved by a particular work of art but can be taught to appreciate what others see in it. So there's sort of a quasi-objective aspect to it, but it's "socially constructed". There isn't really any underlying truth of the matter that can be measured by scientific instruments.

It's the familiar 'Is-Ought' problem.

[Syne]

(Why do I pride myself on the fact that I'm Mensa material? Setting that aside...)

Have you ever found cause to question what any single individual accepts as the norm for no other reason other than it differs from your own? Why do we hold the subjective aspect of ourselves as a priority over the objective? Is the objective only an appearance of good? Is this not the same as vanity and is that justifiable in any way?

As someone who would qualify, I don't really care about Mensa...any more than I care whether strangers online believe I'd qualify. Being intelligent isn't about bragging rights. People who brag about their intelligence very often overestimate it. And as a corollary to the Dunning-Kruger effect, most the time I'm operating under the assumption that most people are just as intelligent and capable as I am...or have the potential to be. It's not fair, and may contribute to my lack of patience and sometimes harshness with them, but everyone presumes others are similar to themselves. Presuming one is superior to others is not healthy.

Seems to me that people who are smart enough to be in mensa typically aren't all that interested in joining mensa. They don't need to show off. Being smart involves a lot more than passing a test and carrying a mensa card. Intelligence is something that has to be performed in the course of one's life.

Absolutely. And if smart people were interested in joining an association based on accomplishments, there would be many members who would not qualify for Mensa. That alone shows that IQ isn't everything.

[Zinjanthropos]

Must mean Ted Kaczynski took pride blowing people up. 167 tested IQ. However I don’t think everything is as it seems with Ostro’s post.

How would anyone know if Ostro is or isn’t baiting the reader? He posts like this at times. He may actually be taking pride in being a frequently stoned moron living in mom’s basement that’s able to fool geniuses or someone he considers smarter, thinking that by doing so it qualifies him as Mensa material.