Mycroft Society

What would you make of a sports car club in which no-one ever turned the key and drove? So Mensa: although the members exceed at test taking, could one not apply this gathered intelligence for the public good, or at least claim to do so? Thus: the Mycroft Society. Mycroft Holmes could easily solve problems based on the facts given him by his more active but less intelligent younger brother. The Mycroft Society would have long SAT-like tests (a page from the Mensa book) and would charge for test results. Successful applicants to the society would pay dues. In exchange they would be formed into cells and solve societal and other problems brought to them by humble supplicants.

But where would these problems come from? Some people unable to solve their problems do not recognize that intellectual deficiency is the reason. The Mycroft Society administration may opt to recruit supplicants to bring a given problem and provide some grist for the mill. Cells of far-flung Mycroftans would then confer by web or in person, as distance or physical impediment might dictate. Solutions devised would be trumpeted on the web site and via mass media. Dues would be used in part to ensure enthusiastic media coverage for solved problems, the adoption of solutions, and also head wagging tut-tutting for intransigient persons unwilling to adopt solutions handed to them on a Mycroft-engraved platter, gratis. We do want the platter back, though.

Many persons of high IQ are not optimally positioned to leverage their gift in the service of humankind - an example is Mycroft himself, who was disclined to do fieldwork. Press coverage as well as some degree of irritation by the general public would ensure that the Mycroft Society receives a steady stream of qualified applicants willing to devote time, brainpower and dues, dues, dues to improving the lot of humankind (plus they get a tasteful Mycroft Society Membership badge!) The badge looks somewhat like Obama's head in the Hope poster, except heavier, and there is a tear being shed like the Native American in the ads from the 1970s weeping over the littered plight of his land.

As an organization dedicated to public betterment, the Mycroft Society is tax exempt. Society headquarters would be located in the American Radiator Building in NYC - like the Mycroftians themselves, exquisite and underappreciated. The administrator of the society would be rakishly debonair and lead a lavish lifestyle. In this role, I would appear from time to time making public relations pronouncements or receiving gratitude from those whom the society has helped. Occasionally the latter might receive some non-publicized consideration from the society in return for their flashy adoption of a solution.