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Comment by ghostbrainalpha | Hacker News Reader

Is it generally true that people of extreme intelligence have richer lives in terms of emotional and spiritual development?

This is definitely not the case in my circle, where the MENSA candidates tend to sound a little bit like the Throw away comment, and if they don't have outright disdain for typical human connections and spiritual pursuits, they definitely don't spend the average amount of time on emotional or spiritual development.

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That's the kind of people mensa attracts. Gifted people are often highly emotional. If you're gifted in one respect you are more likely to be gifted in another. Some are intellectually gifted. Some are emotionally gifted. Many are both. And I believe the chances that you are both increases as you move from gifted to highly gifted to profoundly gifted. The smartest person in the room will more often be a MENSA type, the smartest person in the company will more often be gifted across the board.

I'd say if you're not intelligent enough to also develop your emotional or spiritual development (it doesn't have to be forced you just need to not be closed to it), then you aren't really extremely intelligent, you're just trying to come off as one or more accurately your idea of how one would be like.

Last I heard MENSA has an annual fee, isn't that already a nice indicator of the intelligence of its members, to pay for an "I am smart" badge?

Sometimes they are paying to try to find other people like themselves. Sometimes they are paying to feel like they belong. And, yeah, a lot are paying to feel special or social signal.

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