Ultra high IQ societies like the Mega Society are an interesting development – they were formed by Mensa members who thought that Mensa was basically a f*** club for the high IQ and not sufficiently intellectual. Many prominent members of these societies are promoting the idea of Power tests, that is, IQ tests with no time limit where the score you get depends on how many questions you can get through. The questions become progressively more difficult so that average intellects can’t get through them no matter how long they spend. I’ve noticed that some Mensa puzzle books have started using these tests as well. But how much scientific basis is there for them? Any readers qualified in psychometrics have any idea?
Some of the prominent ultra high IQ people seem to be quite prolific designers of these tests (indeed you might say some, like Ron Hoeflin make their living solely out of this) but have attained their own high IQ scores on normal speed tests, and others have passed both with flying colours. At least at the extreme high end people who do extremely well at power tests do extremely well at normal speed based tests too – which I suppose is the point since power tests were originally designed to accomodate the measurement of ultra high iq. Here is a discussion of the merits of power tests vs speed tests by a prominent member of this community.
Another curious thing about ultra high IQ societies is that, to put it bluntly, they seem to attract lots of people, who are, er, otherwise undistinguished in other respects, sometimes even dysfunctional[1]. Is this, as logic suggests, because such people self-select themselves to join such groups (whereas other ultra high IQ people who become distinguished intellectuals and mix with people of similar IQ don’t need to join such groups) or is society really alienating and wasting a large stock of human capital because its educational system and social customs make them into misfits?
[1] Chris Langan, billed on American TV news as the ‘smartest man in American’ (IQ 195) and public face of the Mega Society, works as a bouncer and promotes his obscure and crackpot-sounding CTMU theory which might as well be recycled Leibniz. Marilyn Savant, billed in the Guiness Book of Records for highest IQ in the world (228) writes puzzle columns for the Sunday papers! What a waste …
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