The genius accepted by Mensa aged just 3 after IQ of 140 equals Bill Clinton

Daily Mail ^ | 2/17/10 | Liz Hull

[Nachum]

Most three-year-olds are fascinated by cars and trucks.

But few can read and remember their number plates like William Potter does.

He can also name most towns and cities in the British Isles - and has just become one of the youngest people ever accepted as a member of Mensa.

With an IQ of 140, his intelligence is said to be on a par with that of Bill Clinton and, apparently, Napoleon Bonaparte.

[aruanan]

He can also name most towns and cities in the British Isles - and has just become one of the youngest people ever accepted as a member of Mensa.

It was enough for me to know that I could join it. I just had to have a sufficiently high GRE score. I didn't see the point of spending hundreds of dollars for a lifetime membership.

[Talisker]

From http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bllamar.htm:

"Silver Screen superstar Hedy Lamarr (born Hedwig Kiesler Markey) with the help of composer George Antheil invented a secret communication system in an effort to help the allies defeat the Germans in World War II. The invention, patented in 1941, manipulated radio frequencies between transmission and reception to develop an unbreakable code so that top-secret messages could not be intercepted. The technology called spread spectrum, now takes on many forms. However, all the spread spectrum that we use today directly or indirectly, flows from the invention created by Hedy Lamarr."

[ari-freedom]

“When movie stars weren’t stupid”

[ari-freedom]

He can already tell the time, understands dates, owns a calculator

Ah...he had so much potential...

[ari-freedom]

“This is stupid. Many people have an IQ of 140”

not at age 3

[Talisker]

I don't know about mensa but I nominate my in-law parents for the title of genius. Their 6 grown kids still visit them every week (including several adult grandchildren and sons-in-law), talk to them by phone most days of the week, all of them get together for dinner at the homeplace many times a year. Parents that can raise a family that still does all that takes something special. In my book, that's genius that makes a difference in lives.

I agree - beautiful post. Thanks.

[cynwoody]

With an IQ of 140, his intelligence is said to be on a par with that of Bill Clinton

If I understand the term IQ correctly, this kid would be 40% smarter than the average three-year-old. That sounds about right for Billy Jeff and more than a little bit high for Zero.

[ari-freedom]

“William was assessed as being in the most intelligent 0.4 per cent of people his age by educational psychologist Dr Peter Cogdon.”

[dr_lew]

She probably knows the meaning of “is” which trumps BJ.

He knew several meanings. It was a quibble, but as such it was perfectly understandable. Do you understand it?

[dr_lew]

We can dream, can’t we?

[SERE_DOC]

In male terms, he remains a genius /sarc

look at all the ugly women he got to sleep with him. (not the ones he didn't have permission from). and the end result, he remains the second president that has ever been impeached.

To date.

[roadcat]

I thought it strange that they mention the calculator as if it shows proof of his superior intellect. They should buy the child an abacus.

I thought I was smart as a kid. Always did better than anyone else in school at math. My mom used an abacus daily in all her calculations. She would challenge me at computing answers to math problems, I with pencil and paper, my slide rule or just using my head, and she with an abacus. I never could win against her.

I wouldn't allow my kids to use calculators or computers, as the old-fashioned methods sharpen ones mind.

[Prince of Space]

My son was tested at 140 at age 6. By high school, it was 132. Apparently, it's a lot easier to score high at a very young age, but the score you receive when you reach adulthood is usually more indicative of your true IQ.

Mrs. Prince of Space

[Tamar1973]

I had a friend of mine tell me “quit bragging” when I said my IQ was 137. There are people out there with IQ’s far higher than that.

[BenKenobi]

Never tested. What would the point be?

[Hetty_Fauxvert]

I’m sorry you found your Mensa meeting so boring. I’ve been a member for over 20 years, and have found that the quality of the group varies by locality. Here in the Bay area, we have a monthly games & potluck night that is very popular. You might want to see what your local group is up to, and think about rejoining.

[Razz Barry]

I wouldn't allow my kids to use calculators or computers, as the old-fashioned methods sharpen ones mind.

I don't know what they teach children in school. Without a calculator most high school grads can't make change.

[Brellium]

Second of all, anyone who brags about IQ scores above 135 doesn't know what they are talking about. Standard IQ tests don't measure with any accuracy over about 130-135 (at that point the test is not statistically valid). In any case, IQ scores cannot be compared numerically in the first place. They are compared based on standard deviations from the mean. At 100, fifteen points is about one standard deviation. So you could say that, in general, we could expect a person with an IQ 120 to be "smarter" (depending on your definition) than a person with a 100 (as they are separated by a standard deviation). As the test exceeds 130-135, the standard deviation becomes statistically undefinable enough that we can't actually say anything about a score of 148 compared to a 175... the tests just don't measure those scores accurately enough

That nicely explains as why I've been able to score everywhere between sigma 3 and 5 on IQ tests.

The best a measurement of IQ does is predict potential or specificly the abilty of a person to use deduction and solve problems quickly. It does little good for society or anyone, to be in a room somewhere trying prove your intellegence against that of others.

I've always believed that IQ functions quite a bit like the ELO system used for ranking systems. While one can have a high rating, it does not prevent one from making stupid mistakes. It may actually lessen that frequency, however it has the tendency to place very intellegent people in places where their mistakes can just beome that much larger.

[Mind-numbed Robot]

LOL! Clinton didn’t have a 140 IQ.

Whether he did or didn't is beside the point. It is common for the Left to promote their own as the smartest people in the world and their opponents as dunces. Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton (and Hillary), and now Obama are all "brilliant" while while Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush are all dunces.

The Kennedys took LBJ as their VP candidate to assure they won the South but they looked down their noses at him as a rube. That did great damage to his giant ego but he got the last laugh.

[Fresh Wind]

The IQ number is an accurate measure of how good the subject is at taking the IQ test.

It doesn’t measure common sense.