I'm a little more optimistic, which is boosted by the change in levels of awareness I'm seeing in people around me (not just tech people).

As much as I like to shit on gen-z, one great thing they have going for them is awareness and understanding at levels that were unobtainable for my generation, and it's trickling _up_ to the older generation.

A good example: My generation always ended discussions of counter-productive change with "Well, that's progress!". Gen-z are asking "progress towards _what_?". People are waking up to the fact that common accepted "wisdom" can be questioned.