I find myself saying “No, no, no. You don’t understand. I’m really not as smart as you seem to think I am.”

You missed one connection. The people you consider smarter feel the same way about themselves! And they do for the exact same reasons you cite, too. That’s where the lack of recognised ranking you are dismayed about stems from. The smarter people are, the more they realise the many things they’re incapable of; so the less likely they are to seek laurels.

So don’t consider yourself unworthy quite yet. That there are people more capable than you does not mean that you aren’t capable yourself.

Makeshifts last the longest.