Ah, this must might explain all the social wonders (that don’t work) you all have.

“What it means is that Finns are interested more than others in the measuring of their “intelligence” through some generic, standardised testing procedure.”

Made me laugh

…because it’s probably true

Oh really, good to know. I will think again and NOT to participate the test, I might have a bad effect to mean value. LOL

About four percent of those smart enough to qualify are members.

Yes. There must be some alternative explanation. Finns simply can’t be smart or well educated. It’s all just a hoax and a welfare state propaganda. Those kinds of tests mean nothing. Except when taken in the USA (or in any other country than Finland).

Åboy… perhaps you should read the article and not automatically (it’s easy I know as he does it all the time) jump to the conclusion that Phil is barnstorming here. The last paragraph is not his. The entire thrust of the piece was to point out that Finns become MEMBERS of Mensa in larger numbers than elsewhere, and not that they are intrinsically of higher or lower IQ than others. People like taking tests (perhaps as a result of conditioning in a life that is often metered in the path from cradle to grave), a lot of people (perhaps a greater share than in some other countries) take the Mensa test, and a share of them then join. I suspect the 148 score and the 2% or so of population that achieve the Mensa threshold level is pretty much a constant throughout Western Europe and North America, where these things tend to be targeted. People in Eritrea or Sudan have more important things to worry about than which number comes next in a sequence. They want to know where their next meal is coming from.

I wonder why such a highly educated and smart country is not known in the world?

I guess with such a potential you should invent everything in this world.. however, what I see is only customized mobile phone(someone else invented them). You don’t produce cars(except Sisu mainly used by gov.), your army is using mostly russian weapons, your computers are running windows(90%), you fly on boeing and airbus, your famous F-secure antivirus is using Kaspersky’s engine, you don’t have any well-known internet business like ebay, paypal, google and so on and so on…

What’s the problem? you have knowledge but don’t use it?

#8 “your army is using mostly russian weapons,”

Where did you come up with that information? As far as I know, there is has been a deliberate policy to maintain a diverse array of suppliers for weaponry, so as not to be excessively beholden to any power group.

“your computers are running windows(90%)”

How does that make Finns any different from anyone else?

“you fly on boeing and airbus,”

Do you really expect a country with fewer people than a large-sized US city to have a separate aviation industry that would rival Boeing or Airbus?

Belino,

consider the small population and the incomprehensible language. Consider the small domestic market and the poor levels of capital obtainable for new inventions. Consider the fact that Finns do not exactly excel in marketing etc.

Modern technology is heavily influenced by the concept of simultaneity of invention: the same ideas crop up in different parts of the world around the same time. If a Finnish guy comes up with a great idea, he will spend years trying to get backing for his project: capital availability is poor and Finnish companies are -for the most part- quite conservative and cautious. In a bigger economy someone gets roughly the same idea, develops and markets it much faster, and voilá, the invention is remembered as American/German/French.

The problem is not that Finns do not use their knowledge, they just experience many obstacles that are much more easy to overcome in bigger economies. Many of your examples, like the arms industry or the automotive industry should have been established several decades ago, at a time most Finns still were even poorer than now and the startup capital was nonexistent.

We still have found suitable niches, though. As your examples show, Finns make good work in refining existing technology. The telecom industry is only the tip of the iceberg, we love to take foreign inventions and modify them. Your “Russian weapons” are a case in point, the Finnish standard assault rifle is a derivative of the AK-47 but as such arguably one of the best such weapons in the world. Tweaks and modifications are a Finnish staple: this is a sign of the fact Finns do have knowledge and skill, but that the outlets to express them might be somewhat limited.

Moving right along: How many countries with a population base of less than 100 million manufacture all of their military weapons, have an independent automotive and aviation industry, and use computer operating systems developed exclusively in their country.

There is no shame in buying these things from abroad, and the fact that Finland can quite comfortably do that is that it is able to produce high-quality goods that generate the wealth that is necessary to buy all of those things.

I actually must agree that Mensa testing or membership does not prove very much at all, other than a big interest in joining Mensa.

I think we can be proud of our education system but at birth I am sure we no more or less intelligent than any other nationality, excluding Swedes

“I wonder why such a highly educated and smart country is not known in the world?”

One reason is that most people are not interested to know about Mellin transform or that some 60..70% of world copper is produced by method invented in Finland or to which extent their weather forecast is based on data acquired by Vaisala instruments. Traditionally, we have been concentrating on less sexy branches of industry, as conoisseurs of Finnish can verify from this 1987 letter to the editor from Oulu:

http://www.student.oulu.fi/~tfinnila/agenttipuhelin.PNG

Hawking doesn’t believe in IQ. Why should I

In IQ test one part is language comprehension. And I wonder they take test in English even if a person with English as mother tongue will have larger vocabulary than an Finnish or any other non English speaking countryman. Still Brits are not able to catch up.
Also, higher IQ doesn’t mean a person should start eBay, everyone has its own priority. Why Einstein didn’t start some big company that time?
IQ is an indication of potential of a person. He can do anything better than any other average person provided he is trained in that specific skill. It shows capability of brain.

Antti:
Traditionally, we have been concentrating on less sexy branches of industry, as conoisseurs of Finnish can verify from this 1987 letter to the editor from Oulu:

http://www.student.oulu.fi/~tfinnila/agenttipuhelin.PNG

ROFL! That made my day!

Ah, this must might explain all the social wonders (that don’t work) you all have.

winter, I take it that you’re not a Mensa member.

Who would have guessed?

#8: Linux, IRC, and SSH were created in Finland.

There is something that many of you may not be aware of, but Finns have the highest mean SAT scores in the world. Following the Finns are the Japanese. Finns have a superior education system. University education is free, so long as you pass high school. Just about all of the younger generation of Finns speak fluent english as well as fluent Finnish.

So not only do the Finns average the highest average IQ of any other country, but they average the highest SAT scores as well.

Not to mention they have to deal with half the country not seeing the sun for 4 months during the winter, which I’m sure everyone’s mental health could handle perfectly.

^^ I was gonna post this but you were faster..

that’s what we think….
maybe because their food are full with OMEGA 3

niggers

Maybe because they are extremely antisocial and they have nothing better to do but prepare for the next Menhttp://www.finlandforthought.net/sa test.

Maybe because they are extremely antisocial and they have nothing better to do but prepare for the next Mensa exam.

Usa is proudly worst country in world
Finland is best

Usa:
Always in war.
they have quite large dept
Most of them are fat, mentally ill, or otherwise little… you know?
they have separated their country in little countries…why?
They adopt baby monkies. wtf?