this post was submitted on 27 Jul 2025
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relevant post (infosec.pub)
submitted 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) by SSUPII@sopuli.xyz to c/lemmyshitpost@lemmy.world
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[–] Mikina@programming.dev 33 points 1 day ago (4 children)

I don't get why something like Mesa even exists. Like, what even is the moment where pulling out your Mensa card is a good idea?

Assuming you are inteligent, you should know that flashing a card from a gatekept "clever people" club will probably not impress many people, just like you should recognize that the test you did doesn't mean shit and IQ is not a good way how to measure people.

[–] Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 10 hours ago

it'd make sense if it was just a club to help people be social, since high IQ and social difficulties tend to come together

but no.. they charge you to be part of it..

[–] parlaptie@feddit.org 9 points 21 hours ago

Well, the original idea behind Mensa was that if you got a bunch of really smart people together, they just might solve all the world's problems. Didn't quite work out that way, so I'd agree that it has no real reason to keep existing anymore.

[–] ProfessorPeregrine@reddthat.com 23 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Yeah, no one "flashes a Mensa card" unless they are a jerk. We joined many years ago when we lived in Iowa for the social aspect. The parties are a lot of fun and the people are all fascinating. Not all people you want to spend time with, but fascinating. We let our memberships lapse when we moved back to Colorado.

Nearly universally, Mensans recognized that IQ is only measure of how well you do on an IQ test (which, as you may know, was never intended as a test for the upper end, only to find students who needed intervention) or the other allowed tests.

There were materially successful people and not, socially adept and not. People we learned to avoid and people who became friends. Cringe and connection.

I suppose it is like any other social club where you have something in common with the additional kicker that people were not holding back in conversation. You had the chance to rapidly be humbled in that case if you went on at length about some favorite topic only to find out the person you were talking to was an expert in it.

Plus there were cool speakers and field trips. "Dumb things smart people do" was one of our favorites.

[–] Mikina@programming.dev 3 points 21 hours ago

Thank you, that makes perfect sense. It's easy to fall from the outside into the trap of judging it by the "smarter than you club" label, and forgetting that probably isn't the point for most members, and the club part is the important one.

[–] VitoRobles@lemmy.today 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Yeah, no one "flashes a Mensa card" unless they are a jerk.

One time I made fun of people who do cross fit and someone at the table said "I do CrossFit." Then I said, "It's almost as annoying as people who flex over their AMEX card." And another guy pulled out his AMEX card.

I regret not bringing up a Mensa Card.

Heh, that would have been perfect.

[–] Sibshops@lemmy.myserv.one 2 points 1 day ago

Honestly, that sounds like a lot of fun.

[–] 5too@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

At a guess? Smart people like validation too; and are just as vulnerable to manipulation that uses it. Potentially even more vulnerable, in fact.

As someone who doesn't need to guess:

It exists as a social club founded in eugenicist thought.

[–] diemartin@sh.itjust.works 60 points 1 day ago
[–] dalekcaan@feddit.nl 174 points 2 days ago (2 children)

A reddit mod for a mensa sub sounds like possible the most insufferable combination imaginable

[–] quetzaldilla@lemmy.world 42 points 2 days ago (3 children)

If you happened to have an unusually high IQ, why you would you choose to join Mensa, or be a moderator on Reddit for that matter?

The smartest thing you can do is obfuscate your level of intelligence, not brag about it. That's just how you end up doing more work and getting blamed by everyone around you.

[–] Aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 1 day ago (3 children)

As far as I can tell, most people out there have expectations about high IQ people which are straight out of Hollywood films and wholly unrealistic, so best just leave then with whatever de facto impression of brightness they have about you than mention a number and trigger the "Mental Superman" expectations.

Also going around parading your IQ falls straight into the rule "the more a person brags about some great personal quality, the less strong it is" - if you're really that bright, brave, strong, beautiful, confident and so on, there is no need to mention it since it's generally obvious to others.

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[–] Tja@programming.dev 12 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Obfuscate your intelligence? Being a reddit mod sounds like it's part of the plan, then.

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[–] blarghly@lemmy.world 51 points 2 days ago

And yet, their comment was on point. Maybe its like w double negative

[–] echodot@feddit.uk 33 points 2 days ago (4 children)

I wish I could remember the story but there was a guy that joined Mensa so he could con people. It worked too which rather seems to suggest that the entry requirements are not all that stringent.

[–] hessenjunge@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

Do you remember how that con was supposed to work?

[–] echodot@feddit.uk 3 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

It was in an article about the real life incidents that influenced Terry Pratchett in the discworld series. So the con itself probably took place in the '80s or '90s, so quite a while ago. I can't really remember if the article itself went into any details but I ended up looking into it myself because I thought it was funny that people in Mensa had been conned.

I think it was some sort of timeshare scheme. The guy managed to sell timeshares in a property he didn't in fact own, not a very sophisticated con really. The utter geniuses didn't demand evidence that he actually owned the property before handing over cash.

[–] hessenjunge@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 16 hours ago

I took a trip down the rabbit hole and tried to find any evidence - there is none. Even though this was happening before the www really took off there should be evidence on the net. A story hilarious as that would never die and would also be used as a warning against timeshare scams.

I don't think mensa members are immune to scams, but timeshare? Even the legit ones are scammy IMO.

[–] Droggelbecher@lemmy.world 18 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Isn't mensa sort of a con itself?

[–] DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social 5 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

IQ testing, arguably. Mensa is a social club that wants nerds to fuck nerds and make nerd babies

[–] boonhet@sopuli.xyz 33 points 2 days ago (14 children)
[–] morphballganon@mtgzone.com 17 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Or computational intelligence isn't the same thing as skepticism

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[–] outhouseperilous@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

And over-identifying woth it is something arrogant shit heads who are easy to con do.

Unlike me. I'm better than that.

[–] Feathercrown@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Wpuld you like to join my new society of people who are two smart to show off their IQ? You get a cool badge you can show people

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[–] MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca 13 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I think their entry requirements are doing exactly what they're supposed to.

The problem is that intelligence, even if we could measure it correctly, doesn't and shouldn't imply what a person knows, nor their experiences and the wisdom that they carry.

Someone can be learned with a low IQ. Someone can be wise and similarly low IQ. In the same way, someone with a high IQ can be unwise.

The problem with having only one individual metric for a group which believes themselves to compose the smartest people, is that they're arrogant. I know plenty of people who are so extremely intelligent that I am certain that they could be a part of Mensa; yet, they are not. When they looked into it, they decided it would be unwise to become a member, given the requirements and the attitudes of, and about, the group.

Hell, there's a decent chance I could get in. I've never tried and I don't care to, for all the same reasons, so I would never know if I could "make it" or not.

Their arrogance and hubris is their undoing.

[–] squaresinger@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago

Mensa is for people who grew up in gifted programs being told that they will achieve greatness just because of the one test they scored hight on, and then they amounted to nothing, so they need a place where they can tell each other that they are unsuccessful only because they are so much smarter than everyone else around them.

High IQ people who manage to do something with their life usually have more to be proud of than an IQ test they took decades ago.

[–] shneancy@lemmy.world 94 points 2 days ago (23 children)

as someone who qualifies for mensa but like, i ain't paying a subscription fee to be in the smart people club, that sounds really dumb (and also IQ testing is sketchy at best to begin with)

yes, i always appreciate a big booty, on any ethnicity or gender, so latinas are indeed included

[–] DawnOfTime@lemmy.blahaj.zone 50 points 2 days ago

Haha I always thought that people running mensa are the real geniuses for basically selling self-esteem

[–] pennomi@lemmy.world 38 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Exactly! Mensa is essentially the filter for people who think they’re smart but actually aren’t.

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[–] Pudutr0n@feddit.cl 33 points 2 days ago (6 children)

As a big booty latino I feel both interested and offended by this.

Also, don't take our big booty latinas pls. We need them for .

Go find yourself an IQ 300 mensa nerd. They need you

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[–] nectar45@lemmy.zip 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] BoosBeau@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

nectar gets it

[–] artiman@piefed.social 10 points 1 day ago
[–] sness@sh.itjust.works 42 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Doubt you'd find either in a Mensa subreddit.

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