From: David Lubkin (lubkin@unreasonable.com)
Date: Wed Aug 11 1999 - 08:04:49 MDT
>I have been a member of both Mensa and Intertel (International
>Legion of Intelligence, upper 1%), but let my memberships lapse
>long ago because I found it more interesting to associate with
>people with whom I shared interests than with people with whom I
>shared test scores.
I found that, as I got older, I was mentally calcifying. Eating the same
foods, listening to the same music, engaging in the same activities, etc.
I now make a conscious effort to try new things. In that light, Mensa can
serve a useful role as one activity among many in exposing me to people
and interests that I might not have known of or considered.
I think of it as my solution to the hill-climbing problem in AI. (i.e., if you
are trying to get to the top of the highest hill by always moving higher when
you have a choice you may wind up at a local maxima and miss the big peak.
A common solution used is to remember the one you found and then repeatedly
start again somewhere chosen at random, to see if you end up higher.)
-- David Lubkin.
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