It's not a typical OB/LW subject, but Robin correctly pointed out that most rationalists are outside OB/LW, and so I'm asking about one of the organizations that might hold many of them.
A couple of weeks ago I took a supervised IQ test by Mensa due to curiosity and for some CV padding (cheap signaling is a perfectly rational thing to do). Now I got a letter back from them that I'm in top whatever %, and they'd like me to join. I wasn't really planning joining Mensa, or anything else, so I'm wondering - does any of fellow rationalists have any experience with them? Is it worth bothering?
As a bonus here's a quick description of their supervised IQ testing process:
- First you get Catell scale B test, which is a mix of English word puzzles, picture puzzles, and logic puzzles. It obviously discriminates against non-native speakers. It has somewhat tight per-page timing. It seems to have stddev 24.
- Then after a break you get Catell Culture Fair test, which is pure pictures, on extremely tight and stressful per-page timing. It seems to have stddev 16.
They compute percentile based on both tests separately, and higher of two counts as the result. So you can has 0 points on one (if at all possible), and respectively 148 / 132 on the other, and you're in (2 stddev above mean, or top 2%). The tests obviously check knowledge of obscure English words and meanings and ability to deal with pressure in addition to intelligence as such. Well, I guess no test is perfect.
So Mensa - good or bad?
Useful as evidence of smarts; useful as a community of smart people. I was a member many years ago, just to see what it was like. Finding insufficient reason to stay, I left.
A community has to have some sort of focus, a reason for its members to be there, or it doesn't work as one. Being a bit brighter than the mass, and "enjoying each other's company and participating in a wide range of social and cultural activities" (from their web site) strikes me as rather diffuse. The company was, like Eliezer described, like a small SF convention -- but without the SF to provide the focus. I've been going to cons for a long time, but I only went to a few Mensa meetings.
When I was a member, I also went to a couple of AGMs, where intelligence was conspicuously not in evidence.