YoungHoon Kim, the South Korean individual who claims to have the highest IQ in the world, is still busy shilling XRP.
This time, he claims that the Ripple-linked digital token is a "digital God." This, of course, could be his most ridiculous post on that social media platform to date.
Even the die-hard XRP fans are starting to feel the fatigue of being pandered to this aggressively. Such relentless shilling starts looking desperate.
Kim was known primarily as a Bitcoin maximalist during much of his public tenure as a "high IQ" influencer. The narrative fractured a few weeks ago, when Kim started to aggressively promote XRP.
By Dec. 14, he was predicting that XRP would reach $100. Now, he has turned to "engagement theology."
Is he really smartest?
Kim’s "highest IQ in the world" claim has obviously attracted plenty of skepticism.
The most common scientific objection is that an IQ of 276 is mathematically impossible to validate, given that clinically validated IQ tests typically max out around 160. Such tests cannot reliably measure intelligence beyond this. On a standard deviation (SD) 15 scale, which is used by Mensa and most psychologists, an IQ of 195 represents a rarity of 1 in 8 billion.
You would need a norming group larger than the number of human beings who have ever lived to be able to validate the score.
Notably, the original Giga Society was founded by Paul Cooijmans to honor exceptionally smart individuals with 1-in-a-billion intelligence. Kim has been accused of creating a copycat organization called the "Giga Society Professional."
Cooijmans has publicly called Kim’s organization "fraudulent" and described Kim as an "impostor."
The former chairperson of Mensa Korea reportedly stated to journalists that Kim's score within the organization was not "special" by Mensa standards.
Dan Burgin
Vladislav Sopov
U.Today Editorial Team