Mensa 75th anniversary special issue

FUTURE OF MENSA
The initial hype over social media is by
now long gone. Online culture can be amazing
and it can be horrifying. As long as
Mensa can cultivate an online culture that
is true to the spirit that guided us so far, there
is hope. What spirit is that? I‘d say a spirit
of respect, curiosity and perhaps a little bit
of irreverence. From its inception, Mensa
always had a silly streak to it. We take ourselves
seriously, just not too seriously.
Even so, the online world is faster than
the social clubs of old. Mensa will have to
keep up with that. Imagine when a person
can find out about Mensa by breakfast and
be a member with complete access in time
for lunch. Interactive, adaptive computerized
testing is our next big step, currently
under way. Secure individual online testing,
remotely supervised and with the evaluation
delivered in minutes instead of weeks
would be an even bigger step after that, a
real game changer. And why not? Schools
and universities had to find creative solutions
for testing students in the pandemic;
Mensa, too, should catch up in that field
eventually.
The third decisive factor for the future of
Mensa is the balance between outwards and
inwards. Should Mensa work to do good in
the outside world, or should we mainly serve
our members? In reality there‘s no contradiction
here. We serve our members, but
a significant portion of our members are in
Mensa precisely because they want to contribute
to a greater cause.
Several national groups have social outreach
programs, some have charitable foundations
and they are a wonderful example
to follow. Lots of people have no idea they
are intelligent and talent will often go wasted
as it is not identified.
Anytime: money and
cooperation
Imagine a million Mensa members across
the world, each contributing an extra euro
or two in their membership fee to support
exceptional children of low means and help
give them an education through scholarships
and mentoring programs. It is already
happening, just on a smaller scale. Now
there‘s a cause worth supporting.
Not everything is about money though.
A bigger Mensa with better cooperation
between the countries could have a voice
strong enough to influence the general public
on the topic of intelligence itself. Mensa
could help make sure the science of intelligence
is taken seriously, and that the human
side of the equation is not forgotten
when considering the needs of gifted children.
Curiously, these three points above mirror
the three constitutional goals of Mensa: fostering
intelligence, encouraging research
and letting members meet and have fun.
That was not intentional, but neither is it a
coincidence. As the world changes so will
Mensa, ideally in a direction the members
intelligently choose. Some of our current
younger members might still be around for
the sesquicentennial celebration in 2096.
I wonder what they will think when looking
back, and what they
see when peering even further
into the undiscovered
country of the future.
Björn Liljeqvist
Stockholm, Sweden
mind magazin sonderheft 75 jahre mensa | oktober 2021 | 25