Ask A Genius 1438: IQ Fraud and Charlatanism in MAGA Circles
Author(s): Rick Rosner and Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): Ask A Genius
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2025/07/02
Rick Rosner unveils rampant IQ charlatanism within so-called high-IQ circles, denouncing inflated IQ claims based on an obscure test with flawed standard deviations. He highlights statistical impossibility, manipulatory scaling and MAGA influencer promotion, underscoring the absence of rigorous norms and cohesive community in this fringe, eccentric independent network.
Rick Rosner: I want to address IQ charlatanism—IQ fraud. It is relatively common in so-called high-IQ circles. However, calling it a “world” is misleading; it is nothing like the structured world of the NBA. It is more accurately described as a scattered group of eccentrics—myself included—who take or design IQ tests. There is no cohesive or organized community. It is not even as formalized as the world of croquet or badminton.
Within this loosely defined space, we are now witnessing one of the most brazen cases of IQ fraud I have encountered. It is not quite as extreme as the case of the Colorado mother who, about twenty years ago, stole IQ answer keys and coached her child to appear as a 300-IQ prodigy—but it is close.
A man—unnamed here, as he does not deserve the recognition—claims to possess the highest IQ in recorded history: 276. For context, this refers to adult IQ, which is based on statistical rarity within the general population. An adult IQ in the low 190s already corresponds to a rarity of about one in a billion. To date, no one has credibly demonstrated an adult IQ of 200 or more. Some—including myself—have come close, but no one has crossed that boundary under valid, peer-reviewed conditions.
This man’s claim rests on an obscure, nonstandardized test. Did he help create it? Or did he rely on someone who miscalculated scores? Either way, he presents this absurd number as proof of genius.
The situation becomes more troubling: he is now being celebrated by Christian MAGA circles in the U.S. Last week, right-wing influencers—Charlie Kirk among them—began promoting him. Why? Because he claims that his supposed ultra-high IQ, combined with his interpretation of quantum mechanics, has led him to conclude that Jesus Christ—specifically the MAGA version—is the ultimate truth.
Let us examine the IQ claim itself. He asserts an IQ of 276. If we assume a standard deviation (SD) of 15, which is typical for most modern tests (e.g., WAIS), this corresponds to approximately 7.33 standard deviations above the mean, or 7.33 sigma. Using an inflated SD of 24—a practice virtually unheard of in psychometric science—a 276 score corresponds to about 7.33 sigma.
To contextualize this rarity:
- 5 sigma ≈ 1 in 3.5 million
- 6 sigma ≈ 1 in 500 million
- 7 sigma ≈ 1 in 390 billion
- 7.33 sigma ≈ 1 in 3 trillion
Even with the most generous SD of 24, the claim implies a rarity of 1 in 3.06 trillion people—over 380 times Earth’s population. And the test? It had a sample size of just a couple dozen individuals or so—nowhere near sufficient for robust norming. In short, it is mathematically and scientifically indefensible.
Originally, the test used an SD of 15. His ranking—where he placed himself at the top—was based on that scale. He then converted those scores to a 24-point SD scale, inflating every result. Through a society he created, known as the GIGA Society, he issued press releases claiming an IQ of 276 and ranked everyone else accordingly.
I appeared on one of those rankings. My score was 192 on the 15-point scale, yet he listed it alongside others, then recalculated his on a 24-point scale. He is simply playing numerical games.
Different IQ tests assume different “widths” of the bell curve—how much variation exists around the mean. For example, if someone assumed adult male height had an SD of only one inch, you’d expect nearly everyone to fall within two inches of the average—say, between 5′ 8″ and 6′ 0″. In reality, height SD is closer to 2–2.5 inches.
In the same way, definitions of “spread” for IQ vary. This man walks around using a 24-point SD for himself but references a 15-point SD for everyone else. If I recalculated my 192-point score with a 24 SD, it might read around 247—equally absurd. Yet he keeps me at 192 because it comes from the 15-point scale.
Worse, he assigns himself a score that statistically would occur once in every 1 trillion people or more. The total number of humans who have ever lived is estimated at about 110 billion over the last 100,000 years. To expect even one person to reach his claimed score, you’d need roughly 15 Earths of historical population.
What test did he use? To my knowledge, only a couple dozen people or so have taken it. Estimates vary slightly, but it is in that range.
None of this makes any statistical sense. That is why we are not naming him. However, the interesting part is that this obvious IQ charlatan is now being embraced by elements of the MAGA crowd.
What is the upshot? Honestly, not much—it does not matter in the grand scheme. Except, perhaps, that MAGA types seem to have a strong affinity for charlatans.
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