An Interview with Anas El Husseini on the Glia Society, Community Sensibility, and Tests (Part Two)
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2020/08/08
Abstract
Anas El-Husseini is a Member of the Glia Society. He discusses: high-IQ societies; why the high-IQ societies seem to congregate online more than in-person; such a turnover in the number of high-IQ societies; the ethical leanings and political orientations of these high-IQ societies; ethical leanings and political orientations; the Glia Society; founding by Paul Cooijmans in 1997; the Glia Society focused on Europe; joining the group; qualifying for the Glia Society; Thoth; contributing to it; “A Megalomaniac’s Waterloo”; and the high-IQ community.
Keywords: Anas El-Husseini, ethical leanings, Glia Society, high-IQ, high-IQ societies, political orientations, Thoth.
An Interview with Anas El Husseini on the Glia Society, Community Sensibility, and Tests (Part Two)[1],[2]*
*Please see the footnotes, bibliography, and citation style listing after the interview.*
1. Scott Douglas Jacobsen: When we’re looking at high-IQ societies, what are some areas for improvement?
Anas El Husseini: First is communication, especially in Internet-based high I.Q. societies. Private forums, email newsletters and journals belonging to high I.Q. groups had lost a lot in terms of member activity in the last decade. It seems that the older members were more prolific, whereas the newer generation got more busy with their own lives or more distracted in the Internet. It seems that people nowadays tend to communicate more through their smartphones and favorite apps, so older web technologies have become an obsolete way of communication to them. The second area of improvement is collaboration, and that’s also correlated with the group activity level.
2. Jacobsen: Why do most of the high-IQ societies seem to congregate online more than in-person?
El Husseini: It costs more to create physical rather than a virtual (online) high I.Q. societies. For instance, someone has to pay for rents, take care of logistics, etc. On the other hand, an online presence of a society costs much less and is easier to manage. Moreover, members are usually dispersed over the world, so it may not be ideal for them to travel to one place at the same time to congregate. The relatively small number of members is also another factor. One can see that, in I.Q. societies with lower I.Q. threshold like Mensa, they periodically hold meetings and physical events for members living within the same country or area.
3. Jacobsen: Why is there such a turnover in the number of high-IQ societies? Many either defunct, in limbo, or functioning merely as branding cover for a personality, a theory, or as a parody on the whole notion of super-high-IQs and accurate measurements at those levels.
El Husseini: The lifetime of a high I.Q. society depends first and foremost on its administrator. If the administrator is persevering, and gives enough of his time to satisfactorily complete his administrative duties, then the society will usually survive for very long. If the administrator or few members in the group are successful at engaging other members in discussions or activities, that is also a big plus. Societies lacking those traits do not last long and die silently. The intent and the motivation of the founder, the rules of conduct within the society and whether they’re enforced well or not, and the strictness in the requirements for admission also determine whether the society is standing on a firm ground or will soon go down with the slightest quake.
4. Jacobsen: What tend to be the ethical leanings and political orientations of these high-IQ societies, e.g., democratic, authoritarian, or anarchic?
El Husseini: The ones I’m a member in are democratic. I suspect most of the others, if not all, are so too. I doubt any of them are anarchic. Members of high I.Q. societies are both intelligent and have high self-esteem. They will naturally reject any sort of dictatorship or chaotic ruling enforced upon them by a group that they willingly opted to join and are free to leave.
5. Jacobsen: Out of those forms of ethical leanings and political orientations, what one seems to bring out the best behaviour and community construction for the high-range?
El Husseini: Since we are talking about people belonging in the same high range of I.Q., democracy seems like the best fit. Depending on the society, the range of I.Q. can vary widely between members. Some societies accept those with I.Q. at 120 or above (S.D. 15) such as Tensa society (they rebranded themselves later and changed the admission I.Q. to 125), while others require an I.Q. as high as 190 (S.D. 15) such as the Giga Society. There are also unique societies like the Grail Society where the admission I.Q. is higher than 200 (S.D. 15), although it does not have any present members so far. One person out of 20 possesses an I.Q. of 125 or more, but the rarity of an I.Q. of 190 is at 1 out of a billion. So even if we call all members of high I.Q. society intelligent, there is still a large I.Q. gap that may hinder reaching consensus or make political/ethical leanings vary to a certain degree. There are also people who qualified to I.Q. societies by fraud, or the rules were too lenient and admitted them although they were not qualified. Those are the kind that usually brings out trouble and controversy within an I.Q. society. The stricter the admission rules, and the higher the I.Q. score of admission, the more the society is peaceful, organized, and civilized.
6. Jacobsen: What is the Glia Society?
El Husseini: The Glia Society is an Internet-based high I.Q. society that admits people at the 99.9th percentile (which approximately corresponds to an I.Q. of 146.6 at a standard deviation of 15). That means that theoretically 1 out of 1000 of the adult population qualifies to join that society. One must submit an I.Q. test report that demonstrates he has the required I.Q. or above to be admitted. There is a long list of accepted I.Q. tests for admission, and those include many of Paul Cooijmans’ unsupervised high I.Q. tests. Upon admission, the member has access to a private journal called Thoth, a member-only email newsletter, social media groups, and the ability to take Paul Cooijmans’s I.Q. tests for free, among other privileges. The society was created to facilitate contact and collaboration between intelligent people
7. Jacobsen: When was it formed?
El Husseini: The society was founded by Paul Cooijmans in 1997, who is also currently its administrator. It has gathered several hundred members from all over the world since then.
8. Jacobsen: Why is the Glia Society focused on Europe?
El Husseini: Although the society was nerve-centered in Europe in its early years, it grew to be more global with time. It is more accurate to say that the majority of members now originates from Europe, North America, and East Asia.
9. Jacobsen: When did you join the group?
El Husseini: I joined in December 2012.
10. Jacobsen: How did you qualify for the Glia Society?
El Husseini: I qualified by obtaining an I.Q. score of 149 (S.D. 15) on the “Psychometrically Activated Grids Acerbate Neuroticism” test.
11. Jacobsen: What is Thoth?
El Husseini: Thoth is the Egyptian moon god. It is also the nickname of the future Grail Society member. Moreover, Thoth is the name of a journal that only Glia Society members can access and read. The journal publishes the content of authors verbatim and allows them complete freedom over what they want to publish. Non-Glia members are allowed to send content to be published in the journal as well, although they are not allowed to read it.
11. Jacobsen: Have you contributed to it?
El Husseini: Twice several years ago.
12. Jacobsen: I love the phrase “A Megalomaniac’s Waterloo” by Cooijmans. It is the coda on the separation of the wheat from the chaff of the high-range. Many come to these tests thinking rather highly of their innate gifts, which seem apparent while not as high as assumed by them. How would you describe the world of the high-range?
El Husseini: Megalomaniacs are annoying living beings. Yet, their delusion with themselves can become a good source of humor sometimes. I believe Paul Cooijmans published many megalomaniac messages that were sent to him, either because of a dissatisfaction of a score on an I.Q. test or due to reasons related to admissions to Giga Society. One can find some of those messages on a page entitled “Expressions of gratitude from satisfied candidates” in Paul’s I.Q. tests website. Needless to say, the world of the high-range does not open its doors to this kind of people. People of the high range are able to correctly observe and assess their own abilities, and they all possess a great amount of inner order that correlates with being very organized, more knowledgeable and remarkable in their verbal and logical abilities. Megalomaniacs usually lack at least one of those traits.
13. Jacobsen: Why did you join the high-IQ community in the first place?
El Husseini: I joined in order to be in contact with other intelligent people, especially with the absence of I.Q. societies that have physical presence in my neighborhood. I was also fond at the time of I.Q. tests, and high I.Q. communities were a source of tests and puzzles of a rare and high quality.
Appendix I: Footnotes
[1] Member, Glia Society.
[2] Individual Publication Date: August 8, 2020: http://www.in-sightjournal.com/husseini-two; Full Issue Publication Date: September 1, 2020: https://in-sightjournal.com/insight-issues/.
*High range testing (HRT) should be taken with honest skepticism grounded in the limited empirical development of the field at present, even in spite of honest and sincere efforts. If a higher general intelligence score, then the greater the variability in, and margin of error in, the general intelligence scores because of the greater rarity in the population.
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