Loneliness vs Alienation

There is no way to write this post without coming across as a snob so I am not even going to try. During the course of my PhD, I have often felt lonely, and much more so over the last 12 months. But, most interactions with people lasting more than a few minutes have made me run back into my cave of solitude. Interacting with people often makes me feel like I belong to an alien species. My It is not just that I feel I smarter than most people I brush up against, which I do. I also feel like my interests and occupations are so different from most people's that we live in different worlds. The latest interaction to make me feel so was with my new housemate, who is a decent enough bloke. In short order, he shared that he wishes he had kids at this age and wants to make a lot of money. He also shared that he found the level of poverty in India, as presented in a documentary, shocking and checked with me if I was part of the impoverished Indian masses. I assured him I wasn't. (cue post about how white people talking about poverty in India makes me feel uncomfortable). My point is, he was a decent enough bloke, if lacking a sense of propriety, but I didn't feel like chatting with him at all. But at least these brief brushes with people make solitude seem infinitely more palatable.