Hi,

I’d like to share why I believe texts about highly gifted people are necessary.

There are hardly any texts that offer a middle-ground identity for highly gifted individuals—ones that neither revolve endlessly around the “g-word” nor push us into the cliché of teetering on madness.

In reality, we are generally very pleasant people—but also clearly distinct from the group that numerically dominates the discourse on giftedness: the “somewhat” gifted individuals whose traits still allow them to blend into average social settings.

While frictions between ordinary and moderately gifted people might exist, they’re often subtle to us. The real tension seems to appear more frequently between us and the moderately gifted. For the general population, we remain mostly invisible—because we learned early in life that staying invisible often prevents unnecessary disruption.

The impulse to create and collect these texts originally grew out of an internal discussion within the Triple Nine Society (TNS), the only egalitarian high-IQ society that truly serves the highly gifted.

I am deeply convinced that we need to speak less about IQ tests and numbers and more about the highly gifted person in society. With texts that genuinely resonate with the highly gifted, I aim to build connections between us.

IQ tests matter because they prove the stigma. “Prove the sigma, prove the stigma” is essential as an initiation rite—an entry point into understanding ourselves. Real understanding begins when we meet others with whom we no longer need to hide.

And when we meet, something close to magic often happens. Finding people who resonate with our thoughts is difficult in everyday society. TNS has given me connections to people who deeply share my thoughts, feelings, and way of understanding the world.

Promoting membership in a social club to people in the 3-sigma range can be a hard sell—we are, after all, the people who learned early on that social clubs are, at best, boring.

These texts are meant to “sell” the idea of connecting highly gifted individuals. Connection creates belonging and understanding.

And with belonging and understanding, we can build a positive identity for ourselves.

Best,
Dirk