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comment by humanodon
humanodon  ·  2981 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Richard Wilkinson: How economic inequality harms societies & imposter issues

I meant to reply to this sooner, sorry!

Justin's research sounds incredibly difficult to map, but personally I think that's a really interesting question. The research I was assisting a professor this past Fall had to do with mapping the social network of conflict resolution programs in the Boston area and honestly, I had no idea it would be so difficult. I had this idea that once I started pulling at threads, the whole thing would just unravel for me, but it did not. I can't even imagine what mapping social networks in the Philippines would entail. It's potentially SO many people!

Anyway, I have often felt like an impostor but from what I have observed in my own life, as long as I project an air of confidence, people tend not to question my competence or credentials. For example, when I met up with you at MIT, I remember someone asked me what department I was in. I was really tempted to say "robotics" or something, but instead I told the truth. A missed opportunity, I am sure.

The social capital aspect is interesting to me. I feel very comfortable at universities, because many people in my family work for universities, including my parents. I was born at a university, grew up in a university and have worked at a few of them myself. For me, this is normal and so getting a letter of recommendation from the guy who wrote my textbook is not outside of the realm of possibility.

I feel like an impostor as an adult, fairly often. I wonder sometimes if I should be doing whatever I want to be doing, instead of trying to sleep at reasonable hours, worrying about bills, talking to people about whether or not I should start a Roth IRA or do other things with what little money I have. What kind of makes it better is that the people I talk to about these feelings say that they've felt like that themselves. I feel like this has resulted in a sometimes negative outcome, as I almost never believe that people I talk to are as capable as they tell me they are. I'm happy to be surprised, but still, I think I could be taking people more seriously than I often do.