Am I a Mr. Smarty Pants? A friend and I were talking last night about intelligence, and after a bit a intellectual self-depreciation on my part, she asked me, "But Matthew, aren't you like a genius or something?" I said something half-hearted along the lines of it depends on what standard one uses, and whether one uses a straight-I.Q. view of geniuses or whether it is also related to achievement1. The truth is, I don't believe I'm a genius. I don't believe I'm close to being a genius, quite frankly.
And it got me wondering: Where should the line be set for geniusity?2 It could be based on achievement, sure, but where's the fun in that? I want a hard genius/non-genius line, so that next time I am asked, I can say, definitively, that I am not a genius. Y'all will set it way above my I.Q., right? Right? Please? I'd really rather not have to worry about meeting those expectations.
Here are some points of reference to help you help me set the line. The I.Q. scores are based on standard deviation of 16 and a mean of 100.3
I.Q. of 132: Mensa requirement. At about the one-in-45 level.
I.Q. of 140: Encyclopedia Britannica’s definition of a genius. At about the one-in-170 level.
I.Q. of 145: Genius requirement used by many psychiatrists. At about the one-in-400 level.
I.Q. of 150: Smarter than one ought to be. At about the one-in-1000 level.
I.Q. of 160: Number I heard bandied around in college for the genius level. At about the one-in-11,000 level.
I.Q. of 170: Really, really, really smart. Really. At about the one-in-160,000 level.
I.Q. of 180: This person, too, is really smart, but she has no friends because she's always talking about "the imminent disintegration of the cosmos upon itself" and how "we may asymptotally approximate our latent communal realization, but the full realization shall permanently remain an asymptote." She is loads of fun at dinner parties. At about the one-in-3,500,000 level.
I.Q. of 193: On average statistically4, this would be the highest I.Q. of any American. This person always wins at Balderdash because he knows the right definition for every word. At about the one-in-300,000,000 level.
I.Q. of 205: Me.
I.Q. of 206: Where I would set the genius level.
Okay. No, not really. No, I'm, uh, let's just say I'd set it a bit higher that those psychiatrists would. Preferably, I'd set it one or two points above the I.Q. of a certain person I know who got a 36 on his ACT, because I can't have him be a genius and me not be. Right?
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1 As the friend can attest, I did not actually say that second item, but I should have, so I'm including it anyway.
2 First rule for geniuses: Make up words like "geniusity." 5 3 That sounded like a suspiciously intelligent remark -- even one that a genius might make. Oh dear. Please do ignore that cha-cha into basic statistics.
4 Do you see the redundancy? Do you? How could someone say "on average statistically" and be a genius? Huh?
5 Second rule for geniuses: Use footnotes. It makes you look smarter.
oh so lovingly written by
Matthew |
i sincerely do not know what you are doing here. are you lost? were you
looking for your delicate calico cat, and did you follow her up two flights of stairs
to this room? she is not here. she was here, yes. we gave her a warm bowl of milk, we talked with her about campaign finance reform for a time, and then she bid us good day. i believe she was
going to the post office two blocks down, but i don't quite recall.
for surely you did
not find your way from prinsiana, the least traveled site on
the internet. if you did, though, perhaps you are looking for humor. perhaps you are looking for profundity. perhaps you are looking for answers.
i'm sorry, but you shall go naught-for-three.
