There are a great number of greying or almost-greying engineers and other tech types who are part of a generation preceding the current "cool" generation.
This older generation of hackers and engineers got into the industry because the allure of building systems that made society a better place and benefited humanity broadly was a very powerful driver. For years and decades, this passion drove them to build the foundations of what we now know to be modern energy production, electronics, computing, and networking.
Dreams of taking civilization to the stars, of creating limitless energy sources, of using technology to empower oppressed people and bring others out of poverty drove many of this generation forward.
The reality? Masses upon masses of highly indebted hipsters sipping lattes, tweeting about a band they heard called "Shitdripper", on a device thousands of times more powerful than anything available to the NSA a generation ago, bitching about how they can't get a seven figure salary flipping credit default swaps anymore, in a city that, although it once stood for real technological innovation, works hard to churn out hundreds of also-ran photo sharing apps so that said hipsters can post a thousand photos of their purse dog wearing a kermit the frog costume.
Because there was a generation that dreamed of greatness, and the technology they delivered is being used to enable mediocrity.
At least that's my guess.