MENSA : Was: Interviews & red flags

[Leo Hill <leochill -at- yahoo -dot- com>]

Having followed this branch of the discussion today
I'll add my .02 worth.

As you might recall an earlier post of mine where I
mentioned my years in heavy industry.  One of the
drawbacks of being (sorta) intelligent and working in
a blue collar job is lack of intellectual stimulation
at work.  

Nearly all of that sort of interaction came from
outside interests.  Writing for commercial publication
was one of the ways.  Taking classes of interest at
the local CC was another.  MENSA never entered into it
because I too found  many members of the local chapter
more than a bit over-bearing in their self-inflated
view of their intellectual superiority.  As one poster
mentioned earlier - "A legend in their own mind."  And
being on the lower end of their qualifying scale,
there might have been a bit of an intimidation factor
too.  Too many years ago now to really care.

But having met my current love and her being a real
Piled Higher and Deeper Dr., college professor and a
rising international star(let) in her field, I have
had the opportunity to meet and chat with some really
really really smart folks over the past decade.

I recall one young Russian lady that was attending
Princeton for her 2nd PhD - she'd just completed her
1st at Columbia.  I remember chatting with her for
about 20 minutes and coming away from that
conversation  dumbstruck at her brilliance.

Usually I can hold my own on most ?general? subjects ?
and this is not to say that I know the intricacies of
string theory or what Verdi was thinking when he wrote
Aïda.  But this woman awed me with her wit and
quickness.  I think intimidated works real well here.

But other than this one instance, the folks I?ve met
have (mostly) been down to earth people who happen to
be experts in their chosen fields.  And though the
subject of MENSA has never really been broached, I
don?t think that many of these folks have the
emotional need for validation from that direction. 
They get their strokes from their professional
associations and contact within their peer groups.

That?s a roundabout way of saying that I also get my
strokes from my peer group.  The TW?s here may not (I
don?t know) be MENSA candidates, but to a person
they?re bright, funny, well rounded real people.  We
may disagree regarding religion or politics, but we
have a good team that can discuss a wide range of
non-polemic topics.

So after this jaunt around the bush my point is that
lots of ?real? folks that would (probably) qualify
should they so choose, don?t need to for a variety of
reasons as outlined above.

Best,

Leo

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