khafra comments on Open Thread, January 15-31, 2012 - Less Wrong

9 Post author: OpenThreadGuy 16 January 2012 12:56AM

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Comment author: khafra 17 January 2012 03:27:26PM 5 points [-]

I joined, read a couple issues of their magazine without having time to go to a meeting, and realized that if the meetings were like the magazine they weren't worth the time. There was far less original thought in Mensa then I had expected.

Saying this about Mensa is a much better way to signal intelligence to other intelligent people than actually being a Mensa member.

Comment author: TheOtherDave 17 January 2012 03:50:57PM 3 points [-]

Well, it's worth being a little careful here. Saying dismissive things about an outgroup is an effective way to present myself as a higher-status member of the ingroup; that works as well for "us intelligent people" and "those Mensa dweebs" as any other ingroup/outgroup pairing. Which makes it hard to tell whether I'm really signalling intelligence at all.

Comment author: Normal_Anomaly 17 January 2012 10:16:03PM 1 point [-]

Yes, and I knew that when I said it. But it's also true.

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