This is propaganda belittling social causes and ignoring societal decline. Not everything gets better always. Why is this on HN?
I do think the fact that humans build up careers and aren't just going to roll over and stop working or switch careers when it would be prudent for society is a good thing to note. Just as career activists move from one cause to another, so too do programmers
This specific article is a propaganda piece, commissioned, paid for, and disseminated by The Manhattan Institute for Policy Research.
I won't argue with their right to spread their message, policies, and to engage in marketing exercises, but this is very much their work. As a matter of cold fact, not opinion.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhattan_Institute_for_Policy...
ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_Journal
ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_J._Casey#Return_to_pri...
The longer I live the more I realize I don't know. For me it means I have to have some trust in the people communicating with me - that they're operating in good faith. More so when their comms are persuasive arguments.
Without my trust + their forthrightness, I have to expend significant time and energy parsing and vetting their statements - for little practical benefit.