system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
How to engage with people doing similar research to yourself?

Whenever I meet someone doing very similar research to what I'm doing, I don't know how to act. A part of me feels really excited to find someone interested in the same topic, and begin day dreaming about asking them to co-author something. But the other part of me feels incredibly stressed at the thought that someone else is working on research that is (sometimes very) close to my own. I'm a PhD student, so I feel particularly threatened if I meet someone more senior in this category.

How much do you share in these situations? How do you go about things?
gpt
The main point that you want to communicate in this situation is that you are interested in knowing more about their work. Try not to think about issues like future collaboration, etc. because the first step is to build a connection around your shared interest, and that takes time. If you just give someone a chance to talk about their work they will often be happy to share. Hopefully they will ask about your work in return.