It's the product of a culture where success is the core of identity. I agree that it's weird, and to me it's also a delusion. As a delusion, though, it also h

It's the product of a culture where success is the core of identity. I agree that it's weird, and to me it's also a delusion. As a delusion, though, it also has a function. Most of the people will never meet outliers in their field, and this will protect their self-esteem with the thought that the outliers don't exist, can't exist or that those skills can be reached with enough effort. If the connection success was disconnected from identity, then there would be no need for this delusion, since admitting that somebody could be immensely better in a certain field wouldn't hurt self-esteem.