I really do prefer our current situation to 99% of the history of mankind.
Think of YC back then in 2006. The main problem is that we only read and know about the path of people 50 years in the past, and nowadays, even 10 years could be too long of a timeframe for that to be applicable.
You still need to be lucky, but I hope it's easier (to be lucky) than we perceive
If you look back at these sorts of places across history, how often did they have systematized gatekeeping? Never. There's no shortage of these places and opportunities for any given field, you just need to cultivate the ability to surface them.
Which is not to say that MIT admissions don't sometimes revolve around human elements, and moreso the process of landing RA positions, but the sheer number of people gunning for these opportunities its its own kind of gatekeeping. These human factors, the networking and outreach and so forth that goes into "surfacing opportunities," are fiercely pursued now, to the point that it becomes another hoop to jump through even past the grades and SATs and internships that we think of as the "system." One can certainly learn to play the game, but it'd be awfully nice if we didn't have to.