This feels like me:
NEWMARK: I guess, ideally, I would have more social skills—meaning, some.
COWEN: We’re simulating social skills just fine here.
NEWMARK: That’s the phrase I use. At least on my part, what looks like social skills is just fakery. I can do it for short amounts of time, maybe 90 minutes. I’ve given up, though, on actually accumulating social skills, getting better at it. More to the point, I try to get into positions where other people can show social skills.
I tell people that I don’t like talking with others, especially “new people” (read: strangers) and they’re shocked. I seem so personable and chatty!
Well, I’ve been training myself in that 90 minutes for almost quarter of a decade. Don’t mistake a well honed skill with ease, nor desire to use it.
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