Hmmm. I think the “Atomization of work” and “Pseudo-career paths” is the best part of this. Work atomization or “worker alienation” has been going on for a good long time but only recently hit the white collar world with a vengeance. That’s thanks to some krazy apps thought up by start-ups that reduce a lot of independent thinking into cutting and pasting based on what the AI bot tells you do. Pseudo career paths is definitely a thing in tech companies, where they excel at coining strange-sounding job titles that randomly combine evangelist, customer experience, data analyst, chief officer etc. into something that sounds impressive. Eeks. And btw, “Uncanny Valley” by Anna Wiener is worth a read because it covers some of the above as experienced by a very observant human.

I think the part about boomers — I’m at the tail end of the boomer bulge — kind of neglects something that happened back in 2008. There was quite a recession, as you may recall. It basically decimated middle manager boomers, leaving behind a lot of empty cubes in companies. I know some of the people who were affected, and they ain’t getting the same jobs again. I’m not sure I can get too upset that at the “C-level suite” — the .1%? — there are some older people.

I’m going out on a limb here, but there may be other factors involved: stunning concentration of wealth, a whole entangled ecosystem of bankers, Wall Street, executives, boards, etc. that want to keep things as they are. And perhaps that these C-levels don’t know when to let go and do something philanthropic with their money. What a thought!