The Real Imposter Syndrome | Minimally Sustained

AuthorsNameShaunTwitter<br>Many have often heard of or experienced what is traditionally known as imposter syndrome. For those who haven't really heard of it before — imposter syndrome is usually described as the feeling someone has while doing something, mostly at work, but feels like an imposter. This self-perceived imposter doubts their own abilities to fit in amongst so many talented, skilled colleagues. Usually with time this feeling of not fitting in subsides.<br>What I wanted to describe is a different, related feeling — one that sticks around much longer than the version most people mean, and might actually be far more prevalent. Call it what you want: complicity fatigue, the other imposter syndrome. I think most of us feel it as we carry out our jobs daily in a world that has become increasingly volatile.<br>This version isn't about doubting your competence. It's about pretending you care about what you're working on. Pretending it matters to you, but more importantly pretending that it's driving positive changes for society. Many of us ignore the societal and environmental issues outside of our work so we can make believe everything is good in the world, because we're employed and able to pay bills on time.<br>Here are some examples of what people with this kind of imposter syndrome might be working on:<br>Getting people to click on more ads. Even those working on AI are also now working on selling more ads and consumption.Getting people to buy more stuff they don't need.

Driving people to eat more than they probably should and more alone than they ought to. Working on products that enable people to get their food delivered faster so they can spend less time out socializing with one another.<br>Making people more socially isolatedPretending that social media and online dating is improving lives while in reality it is making people more isolated and unhappy than ever before.

So that brings me back to what I mean by all this — a quieter, longer-lasting kind of imposter syndrome that has nothing to do with skill.<br>Some of the best minds in the world are working on building apps/experiences to sell things people don't really need or already have enough of. For others it's working to automate workflows that don't need to be automated (like math).<br>AI is the newest version of this. We're all told, hands on deck, to go all in and embrace it — and the concerns about its energy and water footprint get waved away amid the promise of ushering in a new age of productivity and scientific achievement. It echoes the environmental concerns that came with cryptocurrency mining a few years back, just at a much larger scale. But if AI is mostly being used to generate more content and more consumption, it's worth asking how building more data centers is supposed to remediate the environmental degradation we're already contending with.<br>I'm sure many follow the news in hopes that at least being aware of what's happening in the world means we are doing our part. This isn't materially helping the situation get better though. The way forward needs to be driven by accepting that we are imposters. Once we accept it, we can start to more openly discuss who we are and what the world is becoming.<br>I don't expect people to be able to just forgo high paying jobs in an effort to find another occupation that does actual good for human sustainability. It's really difficult. But let's be honest with ourselves. Most of us are imposters pretending that everything is alright while we go about our daily lives.<br>What's the actual practical solution? Do we all protest? Do we slow down the AI rollout until we are sure the benefits outweigh the costs? I don't have a clean answer to that, and I'm suspicious of anyone who claims they do. But not having the answer isn't a reason to stop asking the question.<br>Imagine a world where a larger share of companies focus on actual, verifiable improvement of outcomes for people. Not a world dominated by selling more consumption. A world where we go to work to make things better. Outcomes driven by improvements in human health, longevity, and happiness, not by bottom lines and profit margins. To get to that world we will have to be more open about being imposters.<br>We will need to push our employers to focus on actual, quantifiable improvements to our planet and the human condition. We need to plainly state when a project doesn't clear that bar, instead of staying silent because we might not make the final decision. No greenwashing or twisting facts, no misrepresentations of data that overlook and ignore critical facts. Most importantly, we need to share our concerns more openly with one another, instead of assuming we're the only ones who feel this way.<br>This might look something like:<br>Asking in a team meeting what problem a project actually solves for someone outside the company<br>Sitting on a local planning board or volunteering with an organization doing work you'd be proud...