Might be smart "antifragile" behavior in the NNT sense. Though I'd argue he's investing in a social identity where, due to his immutable characteristics, he can

Might be smart "antifragile" behavior in the NNT sense. Though I'd argue he's investing in a social identity where, due to his immutable characteristics, he can never have too high a status. That said, he's already gotten the PhD and the professorship, so a lot of those are sunk costs at this point. Incrementally, this is cheap. And it might not be worth backing out of his dead end.