That doesn't ring true for me. I was already pursuing careers and interests that my friends were pursuing. That didn't change anything for me mostly because my friends came from a very different background than me. It also doesn't solve issues like my old boss who opted not to have children because she wanted to move up the corporate ladder at a FAANG company. She said that there was no mental model on how to navigate having kids at the company. All of the ones that did were men whose wives stayed home and took care of everything. She (and I) question if it's even possible to do it.

Your comment reminds me a bit of something I heard years ago from a manager at Facebook claiming that the way to solve imposter syndrome was to have people select which teams and projects they worked on because they would be more motivated to work at it. Totally off from what my experience had been, but likely applicable to some people.

However, I'm not saying you are wrong and I'm right. I think what's surfacing here is that what I posted doesn't apply to everyone and what you are saying doesn't apply to everyone either. It likely helps different types of people in different situations.

For me, I didn't become a software developer until my late 20s, because I was largely intimidated by it, despite being relatively geeky and tech oriented as a teen. There was no one in my small town I knew that went on to become a software dev. And I tended to place devs on a pedestal in my own head, about how smart they were or whatever. I definitely had the imposter syndrome in the first few years of my career. Working my way through community college then onto a top tier computer science university, and then participating in a startup where I got to live in Silicon Valley for a while, I learned that a lot of people in the industry aren't exceptional geniuses. Having access to that network of people in Silicon Valley though, especially at the time (less important nowadays I would argue), was crucial to so many people's success at getting good advice, using the right technologies and business tactics, getting positions and raising capital.

There's an old piece of advice I remember hearing once that for almost any intractable problem or area of concern in your life, the answer can usually be found by meeting more people. If you actively work towards meeting people that know the thing you want to know or have experience in the thing you want to learn or be better at, you'll eventually meet them and unlock that piece of wisdom or personal connection that can get you where you need to go.

That it 'doesn't apply to you' or 'everyone' really isn't the point here.

Obviously it doesn't apply to everyone.

Have you seen how many people in Hollywood have famous relatives in the industry?

It's the same for any industry.

It's very common.

Growing up, I wouldn't have fathomed what it meant to be a screen writer. I literally did not know what the job entailed, other than 'writing'. Nothing.

My Uncle was an Engineer, hanging out with him I saw how that worked, became interested a bit, ended up recognizing how important 'Math' etc. was, worked on a couple of related projects etc.. Eventually getting an internship because of a family member. It was a small favour but a big deal.

And even aside from opportunities, all of the small things, habits, perspective and behaviours of a class of people expected to perform certain functions.

Anyone can be whatever but it's far more likely that those who are exposed, who have role models, behind the scenes access, internships etc are going to get opportunities.

Representation does matter I think, that said it depends a lot on context. For politics, judicial system it matters existentially. In pop culture, especially for kids I think it's important that they 'see themselves' in roles. For a lot of things however I don't think it matters at all.