Sunday, August 20, 2006
Some of the sessions I attended at the Mensa World Gathering in Orlando, 08/08 to 08/13 (keep in mind that this is my diary, for my future reference). This is some of what I chose out of the eight or ten topics offered at any one time. I didn't always make the best choice.
What I say here is my interpretation, and doesn't necessarily have anything to do with what the speaker actually said or meant! If something sounds screwy, blame me, not the speaker. (After all, they spoke in front of a hundred or more Mensans, and didn't get booed out.)
Well, on further consideration, I have removed the speakers' names. Wouldn't want someone "Googling" them and finding this mishmash of their talks.
New Zealand - So Few Women, So Many Sheep
"Dr. Xxxxxx will speak on New Zealand History, culture, and legal hookers from his perspective as a locum tenens physician in multiple NZ areas during the past two years. Occasionally resorting to Socratic lecturing when his own memory fails, he may bring treats to toss to the crowd if they answer questions ... Similarly he requests attendees bring treats to reward him if he makes any good points - kind of like training your dolphin."
This was the first session I attended, and I hadn't got into taking notes yet, my memory is foggy, and so I'm not going to make any specific statements. The photographs were beautiful, and the history and culture was very interesting. When Europeans first arrived, they found a very powerful warrior people in residence. Whether because of that or an unusual altruism (yeah, sure), the treaties were much in the favor of the native population, and they are still treated, as a group, as an equal nation within a nation, with approval and veto powers on land transfers, laws, etc. (Contrast that with how the American native people were treated.) The population is low and male-heavy, the land is mountainous and covered with sheep.
Forensic Interrogation Using Polygraph
"...the art and science of forensic psychophysiology ... dispel some myths about lie detection..." Very interesting. He showed that what questions are asked, and how they are asked, can make a huge difference in the validity of the results. Something I didn't know - the examiner goes over with the subject every question that will be asked, and the answers, before the test begins, questions must be specific and tied to one instance, and if there are any problems with interpretation, they are cleared up then. There are never (in a good test) any surprise questions. I found it a little scary that there are examiners out there who don't know what they're doing, and can easily end up with invalid results. If I ever find myself hooked up to a polygraph, at least I know enough now to know when I should ask for a more experienced examiner.
The Evidence of Global Warming
I went to this one because on the way to the airport I'd had a friendly argument with my friend, and wanted ammunition for my return. Ironically, I lasted about 10 minutes in the room and left, because it was simply too cold in there, the A/C was hitting me right across my arms, and I couldn't stand it. It was right after this session that I bought the sarong to use as a shawl.
I'd have moved to another seat, but every single session I attended for the whole six days in the smaller rooms (occupant limit: 97) was SRO, with 20 or 30 people sitting on the floor at the speaker's feet and in the aisles, and standing in the back and along the sides, and there was simply nowhere for me to move to.
Pathological Narcissism and You: What You Should Know About Me
Definition, roots, and characteristics of pathological narcissism. I went to this one because I think I know a few narcissists, and wanted to perhaps understand them and how to deal with them. He said that the narcissist (realize that many of us have characteristics of narcissism, it becomes pathological when our disfunctional thoughts interfere with our lives) is missing internalization of the praise part of the super ego, and therefore requires external narcissistic supplies. Inside the narcissist feels hollow, worthless, and not deserving, and tends to be interpersonally exploitative. The super ego forms at about 4 years of age, and the young child who is disregarded, put down, picked upon, whose parents did not give a lot of praise, may tend toward narcissism.
In this connection he recommended a book of Jewish haiku that I haven't had a chance to look up yet, but I found the reference amusing.
We might first recognize the narcissist as the person who seems to feel that rules that apply to others do not apply to them, or as the credit/attention hog. Diagnostic characteristics (not all need be present): grandiose sense of self; fantasies of wealth, power, fame, ideal love; believes himself to be special; requires excessive admiration; sense of entitlement; interpersonally exploitative; lacks empathy; envious of others; exhibits arrogant and haughty behavior. (And yet, inside, they actually feel hollow, worthless, and not deserving - the result being an avoidance of introspection.)
He offered a case history that had me giggling. A man had a girlfriend, acquired a second girlfriend, and had affairs on the side. He saw nothing wrong with this. (Exploitative behavior.) He came in because he was depressed because girlfriend #1 had found out about the others and had broken up with him. Apparently he, deep down, thought she was unfair and had wronged him. The whole room laughed.
Trickery of the Human Mind: The Psychology of Prejudice
I had been looking forward to this talk because I know the speaker. I have to admit I was very disappointed (and not just me, others who know her and had attended the session expressed similar sentiments.) The first thing she said was that she had nothing prepared, and so would simply take questions from the audience. The audience had no guidance as to what to ask. She'd take a question, answer it (sort of) and then wander off on whatever side paths the question brought to mind. If she had any points to make, we all missed them.
Chocolate Orgy
Brownies, chocolate cake, chocolate fountain for dipping strawberries and marshmallows and bits of sponge cake, all things chocolate, provided in one of the hotel suites. Help yourself. It was supposed to go from 7 to 9 pm, but the line to get into the suite extended about 400 feet. I got in the door at exactly 8 pm, and the brownies (and I don't know what else) were already gone, and I got the next-to-last (1.5"x2") piece of cake (actually, the servings were 2"x3", but I split the last piece with the guy behind me).
What ticked me off were people who were leaving, passing those of us still in line, with plates heaped with 4 or 5 brownies and 4 or 5 pieces of cake, mounds of gooey chocolate threatening to collapse. Later, I saw many half-full plates in the hospitality room, just abandoned. Greedy people, eyes bigger than their ... the next word is supposed to be "stomach", but most of those people had stomachs (and behinds) bigger than all of me! Perhaps they are narcissists?
Shortcuts to Genius, 2: Via Einsteinian Discovery Technique
This was kind of a "Duh" to me. He wanted us to close our eyes, clear our minds, and let the back of the mind produce a vision unrelated to the current situation, then describe and interpret the vision (the object being to eventually learn how to turn the back-of-the-mind visions toward problem solving). He asked people to raise their hands if they had no coherent vision. Most of the room raised their hands. I didn't understand, because I always have at least two or three very clear visions or scenarios going on in the back of my mind, no matter what else I am doing. Sitting there in the room right then, even as he was talking, the back of my mind was 1) walking along a waterfall, and concurrently I was 2) seeing a loop of Roman walking toward me and smiling, and also I was 3) playing with a dog.
This is normal for me (and may have something to do with my poor memory, and my tendency to often miss details of my environment). I asked others after the session if they didn't do that, and they all said no, that their minds were focused on whatever was going on around them, nothing else was going on in there. (I find this hard to believe.) That's one of the things that cigarettes do for me - they help me to focus on one thing. It's not the nicotine I'm dependent on so much as the ceremony.
I was very confused by this session, and it left me worried that there's something very wrong with me. For about 15 minutes. Then I decided that it's normal for me, I don't know how to not have one reality and several virtualities in my head, and the rest of the world will just have to deal with it. Hmmm. Am I the narcissist?
Confessions of a Word-Lover
This was one of the more anticipated talks, and so was held in a large ballroom. The speaker was very good, and funny, but he writes the word column in the Mensa Journal, so I'd heard/read most of it before. Mainly it was just wordplay with humorous results. I think maybe I should have gone to the "Near Death Experiences: The Case of a New Paradigm of Consciousness" session being held at the same time down the hall.
--------------------------------
There's more - I'll get to the rest later....
No comments:
Post a Comment