Theo Todman's Web Page - Notes Pages
Status Reports
Status: HiQ (2024 - March)
(Text as at 15/04/2024 00:34:34)
Rationale for this Project
- I was very active in Mensa and ISPE in the years prior to taking up formal study of philosophy at Birkbeck in 2000. Thereafter I was too busy, and no longer felt the need to contribute, so I let my memberships lapse.
- When I retired from HSBC at the end of 2010, and given that I was no longer involved in formal academic study, I re-joined both societies for a year to see how things were going, but then let my memberships lapse again.
- ISPE seemed no better than when I was involved last time. The Mensa SIGs seem active enough, but I didn’t have the time to contribute.
- I re-joined ISPE1 yet again for the calendar year 2017, to see what was going on, and renewed for 2018. Membership is cheaper – at $40 / year – now Telicom is electronic, so I’ve let my membership continue.
- Society Details:-
- Mensa: In 2010 I joined, or re-joined, a bundle of societies, but did nothing.
- ISPE: Since re-joining I have done nothing other than pay my dues and exchange friendly emails with a couple of old contacts.
- IQ Test Sites:-
- Between 1997 and 2001 I edited a newsletter (Commensal - Past Issues) in my capacity as secretary of the Philosophical Discussion Group of British Mensa.
- I also edited Under the Sycamore Tree3: Correspondence Folder for the UK Members and Associates of ISPE for a year around about the same time.
- My intention has been to participate in these societies just so far as doing so would support my other projects by way of stimulation and the opportunity for interaction. As such, most of the time recorded against this project could equally be recorded against others.
Summary of Progress during January - March 2024
- I spent 6 hours in 24Q1 on this Project, or related work (18.5 hours YTD, where for "YTD" - Year to Date - I mean the (academic) year that commenced in October 2023). That's 46% of the planned effort (71% YTD). Overall, 0.8% of my Project effort in the Quarter was directed towards this project (making 1.2% YTD) - as against 1.6% planned (1.7% YTD).
- As can be seen, I fulfilled only about half of my time obligations this quarter and most of the time wasn’t directed towards ISPE. However, this is what I currently plan to do: see later!
- Further details follow for the most recent completed Quarter (23Q4):-
HiQ (Total Hours = 6)
- Most of my time was spent reading the autobiography of Norbert Wiener.
- However, I did consider attending a ‘Tripple Nine’ gathering up in London organised by Andrew Aus. However, I decided against it in the end. An afternoon in a Covent Garden bierkeller with smart people I don’t know doesn’t suit me, and I’ve no time to commit to ISPE, so networking won’t lead anywhere in any case. Maybe in the future.
- Progress (if any) in the current quarter can be obtained from the relevant section of my Summary Task List4, and YTD in the current & future “automatic” editions of this report.
Plans for the Near Future:
- Because of the need to focus on higher-priority projects, it is not realistically possible to schedule any more time on this project for the rest of the academic year. I won’t be going to another ‘Tripple Nine’ meet-up scheduled for April.
- I don’t really have time seriously to engage with ISPE at the moment, so my intentions are to continue looking into IQ and accounts of prodigies in odd moments.
- So, if I do find the time, I’ll be looking into:-
- ISPE
- Investigate & take part in ISPE Ning. There's recently been some advertising of Zoom meetings.
- Read "ISPE - The Thousander",
- Read "ISPE - Telicom",
- Consider submitting articles on my research to Telicom as a way of getting feedback.
Mensa
Nothing planned.
General IQ Investigation
Review biography of William James Sidis and related topics:-
→ "YouTube - Video - The Sad Story of the Smartest Man Who Ever Lived",
→ "Wallace (Amy) - The Prodigy: A Biography of William James Sidis", and
→ "Towers (Grady M.) - The Outsiders"
Read the autobiography of Norbert Wiener:-
→ "Wiener (Norbert) - Ex-Prodigy: My Childhood and Youth", and
→ "Wiener (Norbert) - I am a Mathematician: The Later Life of a Prodigy"
Investigate the work in the IQ area of Devin Sanchez Curry (see web references in "Curry (Devin Sanchez) - Why academia should embrace ‘Grandma’s metaphysics’").
Investigate the controversies over IQ-testing, in particular read and review:-
→ "Gould (Stephen Jay) - The Mismeasure of Man",
→ "Herrnstein (Richard J.) & Murray (Charles) - The Bell Curve - Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life", and
→ "Devlin (Bernie), Fienberg (Stephen E.), Resnick (Daniel P.) & Roeder (Kathryn) - Intelligence, Genes & Success - Scientists Respond to The Bell Curve"
In-Page Footnotes:
Footnote 1:
- All that ought to have been required was that I pay my dues, but because of a mix-up I was asked to sit the latest version of their test, which I did.
- I didn’t initially hear back – though I was re-instated OK. On chasing them up for the results I eventually got the response that “I’d passed with flying colours”, but no further details could be elicited.
- My rationale for the enquiry was set out in an email: “On the test itself – it’s similar to, though not the same as – the first one I took, and leaves me feeling similarly uncomfortable. Theory is massively underdetermined by data, so – in a sense – “it depends what you want”. It’d be possible – no doubt – to think more and more deeply and come up with more and more Byzantine reasons for excluding particular items. But how would I know this is what is wanted? It wasn’t until I got the same percentile on the (much more satisfying but now sadly compromised) Mega Test that I trusted the ISPE test at all (actually, I was surprised that I didn’t do better on the Mega Test, and an inquest revealed I’d made at least 3 howlers that more care would have avoided).”
Footnote 2:
- The reference given in previous reports is defunct.
- I think this is the same basic site.
Footnote 3:
Table of the Previous 12 Versions of this Note: (of 30)
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Text Colour Conventions
- Blue: Text by me; © Theo Todman, 2024