ROUND-TABLE SOCIETY WITH HIGH IQ IS DOORWAY TO A NEW WORLD
A Roman walks into a bar and holds up two fingers, and says, “Five beers, please”. This is a joke. If you don’t get it right away, then most probably you will not make the cut to be a member of Mensa – the oldest and largest international high IQ society.
Or then again, maybe not, forthe tried and tested way is to pass the Mensa intelligent quotient test. Curious, this writer takes a rapid-fire Mensa test available on the internet. I want to know if I’m a genius before I have a chat with Ruth Danielle the editor, or coordinator of Isolated M, a newsletter which provides a communications forum and sense of community to the 134,000-strong global Mensan population.
She was in Sri Lanka – for the first time – recently and we try to plumb the depths of her mind to find out what makes a genius, or if one is born a prodigy and like Einstein.
“There is no one prevailing characteristic of Mensa members other than high IQ. And we (Mensa) have three stated goals: to identify and foster human intelligence for the benefit of humanity; to encourage research in the nature, characteristics and uses of intelligence; and to promote stimulating intellectual and social opportunities for its members,” Ruth outlines.
We discover that IQ is something you are born with, but take heart, you can also learn to maximise the potential of your brain. And the sole requirement for Mensa membership is a score of above 98 per cent on a standardized intelligence test – you have to attain a score within the upper two per cent of the general population taking the test.
Ruth, an American, found out 40 years ago that she was qualified to become a member of Mensa and joined the local group in Chicago. Mensa changed her life.
“I never thought of myself as intelligent. School was not difficult for me, but I did not excel. We didn’t have much money so my “experiences” in the outside world were limited. I was an only child,didn’t have many friends and I lacked many social skills. But Mensa opened a new world to me,” Ruth related.
“This was because the only commonality in Mensa is high intelligence. Members came from different educational backgrounds, occupations and socio-economic classes, ethnicities and religions. Because we are all different, we are all equal. I was different but I fit in.
“Mensa is a place where you can interact with people who are making scientific discoveries, discuss the impact of social media on relationships, talk about politics without polarisation, play board games, enjoy a meal together, and find people who will laugh at your jokes because they understand them,” Ruth sums up.
Did you understand the Roman joke? Well here is another one. Another Roman walks into the bar and asks for a martinus. “You mean a martini,” the bartender asks? The Roman replies, “If I wanted a double, I would have asked for it.” Probably, I’m just being silly, and failing badly in an attempt to pass this off as my highbrow witticism.
Ruth adds: “I’m lucky to be the coordinator of a friendly little Mensa newsletter which gives those who are isolated a forum for sharing their experiences. Five of these members live in Sri Lanka ( Maxwell De Silva, Roshini Fernando, SeenivasagamSenthoorselvan, Craig Gardner and Umesh Kumar Periyasamy) and it was delightful to be able to meet them and share in their discussions while I was here.”
Two years ago, 10- year- old Sri Lankan- born Nishi Uggalle became one of the youngest people in Britain to score the highest possible mark of 162 at a Mensa supervised IQ test. Her score was two points higher than Einstein’s and put her in the top one per cent of the nation in terms of IQ.
Piqued, we ask Ruth whether it should be a must for politicians (especially in Sri Lanka) to have a high or at least a reasonable IQ ( they should take a test) so that they can tackle their responsibilities better.
Smiling, she ducks that question by saying she is “not qualified” to answer and that Mensa does not take a stand on political issues. Rather obvious if you glean the Latin meaning for Mensa, which is ‘table’. Mensans portray themselves as a round- table society where race, colour, creed, national origin, age, politics, educational or social background are irrelevant.
“Mensa was founded in 1946 in England by two lawyers, Roland Berrill and Lance Ware, who had the idea of forming a society for bright people, the only qualification for membership being a high IQ. The original aims were, as they are today, is to create a society that is non-political and free from all racial or religious distinctions,” Ruth stressed.
That sounds like Utopia. As for my Mensa test, well, uhm, I’m no genius. Let’s just say that I’m qualified to be a politician in Sri Lanka.