From wikipedia.org, Mensa's mission is to:
1. "to identify and foster human intelligence for the benefit of humanity;"
2. "to encourage research into the nature, characteristics, and uses of intelligence;"
3. "and to provide a stimulating intellectual and social environment for its members."
After reading what Mensa is about, I grew to have a positive attitude towards this organization. It supports people who have high IQ's. It's a society which would have similar ideals to magnet schools, gifted student programs, and the like. And those institutions are very normal and a part of American and European society. They're for the smart kids...
The book, VAS, points out something criminal about Mensa members. British Mensa members, being so intelligent, are asked how to improve society (129). In 1962, 47% of them say it's a good idea to kill "sufficiently unhealthy or subnormal infants"(130). Further, in 1994, Mensa members want to get rid of "homeless, retarded and elderly" (130). How absurd is that?
So now I'm confused. If people this intelligent can think such evil things, where is society headed? I'm coming to really dislike this idea of eugenics because it says if you're not one of the smart ones you should be "dead" (sterilized).
How do Square and Circle fit in? Is he stupid and insignificant in society, as seen by Circle? Or is it another matter altogether?
Friday, February 15, 2008
Interesting + Bizarre = VAS
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7 comments:
I just read through the blogs and realized that I posted almost the exact same stuff. I apologize. Isn't the Mensa weird though? I checked out some of their IQ practice tests. I think that I would have been one of the babies they would have liked to kill...
I kind of addressed this same point in my blog. I think it's absurd that people think they can place a value of social worth on others. I'm not sure what the future holds for us but I feel that we will ultimately cause our own extinction.
I agree with Lucia. I wouldn't want my value as a human being to be evaluated by some aptitude test. Lucky for me value in human beings goes beyond intelligence and looks. Isn't there something inherently valuable in us?
I wouldn't worry about Mensa members deciding the future direction of society. After all, by definition they can only be 2% of the population. Large, angry, dumb mobs always win out over small groups of nerds.
I also posted something similar in my blog. And I think all of us pretty much agree on the Mensa topic; the idea of eugenics is stupid. Maybe they're just a bunch of angry nerds.
Careful everyone. There is a member of our class who got the answer to the Mensa question I posted. We should steal her shell...
those comments by mensa make me very cynical of our future. if they were in charge we might all be extinct within 50 years.
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