Here's the latest piece of evidence, a 47 year-old Mensa member who is auctioning off his hand in marriage on Ebay. I can't tell if he thinks he's a steal at the $100k "Buy It Now" price, or he just doesn't value his life that much. He's offensive, too, and in my opinion a lazy bastard who should get off his butt and make a better contribution.
I qualify for Mensa (my PSAT score twenty years ago was plenty, and every similar test since). I don't belong to Mensa. I like doing some of the puzzles and games they do, but if that's what being part of Mensa is all about they could drop the qualifications. What's the point to having a "smart club" and keeping others out except to feel elitist? I don't have a problem with people feeling elitist, per se, although I think they're shallow and people so dang smart should go out and do something more productive with their lives!
I've got a PhD, use the Hubble Space Telescope among other facilities, and write novels on the side. I usually don't have time to sit around doing puzzles with people I've chosen to be with based on their SAT scores. I like people of many sorts, and don't pick my friends based on test scores.
Marilyn vos Savant, "smartest person in the world" and Mensa postergirl, writes an insipid column. Is that the best the "smartest person in the world" can do? I like to think our best and brightest on this world would contribute something a little more valuable than she has. I mean, she's supposed to be the "smartest," after all. I may not score as high as she does on an IQ test, but I know underachievement when I smell it.
There are a lot of different intelligences, and a lot of different skills. Some great chess players are kind of stupid when they don't play chess (Bobby Fischer comes to mind). Some hunters I know have "wood smarts" that leave me in awe. And there are brilliant artists whose Verbal and Quantitative SAT scores would impress no one, but whose spatial sense would let them toast most Mensa members on many a puzzle.
I tell students contemplating a career in science that yes, you've got to have some native intelligence, but that's only one part of the formula for success. Lots of smart people will never get a PhD, and will never be capable of it, because they lack the second part of the formula: the ability to persevere and complete a large significant piece of work taking years to complete. The final important part of success is to have communication skills. Research isn't complete until it is published, shared with the world. Getting telescope time and grant money depends on writing compelling proposals. And when you show up at a conference, you better be able to give a good presentation -- your next grant or job may depend on it.
Similar to the advice I give out about science, I was told at Clarion West that there were three ingredients for success in writing: talent, luck, and hard work. You only have control over the third, so keep at it if you want to break in.
I think if you have talent, you owe it to yourself and the world to work hard and make it a better place, whether it is writing, or science, or whatever. And if your talents/smarts are so great you can be part of a spiffy club like Mensa, shoot a little higher than an insipid column or marrying the highest bidder on eBay.
Perhaps someone reading this will think I'm being elitist. Maybe I am, but I don't make anyone send me a test score to join my club. I just think it's a shame when people don't live up to their potential, and the biggest appeal of Mensa, from what I can tell, is that it lets smart underachievers feel good about themselves. If you're a Mensa member, think what you want of me, but find something you love, that you're good at, that means something in this world, and do it, if only to spite me.
The text of the eBay listing is in the extended entry...I expect the ad to get pulled soon. The guy is as obnoxious as all get out. No picture, no surprise.
Your high bid wins my hand in marriage for a minimum of two years -- or maybe more (heck -- maybe for life!)
This is no hoax! Detroit, Michigan, USA based man, 47, never married, wonderful easy-going companion with a wide wide variety of interests, member of the American chapter of the International high-IQ organization MENSA, will agree to become your lawfully wedded husband in a U.S. court of your choosing, if you are the highest bidder. My strong first preference would be to remain in the Detroit or southeast Michigan area, but I would consider relocation to many other progressive metropolitan areas in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Australia/Oceania, or even possibly elsewhere. I am especially interested in music, film/theater and the arts, sports, animals/pets, food/wine, travel, sensuality and lifelong learning. Sexual relations negotiable, depending on mutual attraction, appeal and interest. With regard to this, I shall warn you that I am not physically attracted to the old, saggy, "religious", or obese. Living together would be agreed to, barring any erratic, overly temperamental, dangerous or illegal behavior. By bidding, you agree that you are: naturally-born female, at or above the minimum age for marriage in your state, not carrying any communicable diseases, and able to fulfill financially these complete and legally binding terms of your bid within 30 days of the end of this auction. I reserve the right to negate this deal if the bid is less than $50,000 U.S. dollars.
Questions for me? Email me at amadlane@yahoo.com
Posted by Mike at April 19, 2005 9:53 PM