[octopoc]

Is that because the "good" people in your field were just way more obsessive about the topic?

I feel like there are some topics that I'm obsessed with that I'm so much more informed on than most people in my field that I can run circles around them. They would call me super smart if the things I'm obsessive about mattered. Sometimes they have mattered. But I know better than to talk about them at length because people get bored.