>>13674715>im in grad school and the world needs to knowThis shit blows my mind, and I get a similar vibe from a lot of lefty grad school Twitter. I'm in grad school too - for mathematics (studying ramsey theory, graph theory, network science, etc.) - and I one level I feel proud, and I feel like I accomplished a lot getting into grad school, and it's cool to be entering the mathematical community as a young aspiring scholar. At the same time though, I sometimes feel self-conscious in certain respects. I certainly don't feel the need to advertise myself on Twitter as le STEM PhD intellectual, or make it the heart of my identity like a lot of woke STEM academic Twitter community. And honestly, on some level I feel mildly embarrassed when I tell people that I'm a grad student. It's sounds very pompous, especially knowing how highly the scientific comunity thinks of itself, especially in neolib circle.
I just feel weird talking to like an actual working adult. It's like "What do you do anon?".
"O-oh. I don't actually work, and I have never worked in my life, and most of the people I interact with on a daily basis have never worked either. You see, we're STEM grad students. Basically, real life superheros in training. I don't have time to engage in blue collar labor or to waste time on the preoccupations of day to day life. You see, I'm an intellectual, and my time is devoted to the study of science. One day I'm going to get a job at Google, the CIA, or Johns Hopkins University, and I'm going to change the world for progress. But for now, I'm just reading textbooks and solving equations and stuff. And no, you should not confuse me with some NEET incel loser. In fact, us grad students are the cream of the crop. The future leaders of America."
It just feels fake and gay. It's cool if you want to do science, but being a grad student should not be the core of your identity, and you shouldn't think of being an "intellectual" or a "grad student" as a real title or job.
