Higher wages definitely influence graduating STEM students who are choosing between SV and finance. They also cause bootcamps to pop up all over the country and

Higher wages definitely influence graduating STEM students who are choosing between SV and finance. They also cause bootcamps to pop up all over the country and bring people from other industries into tech. In general the market will follow the money. It is a good point that the market can't achieve the impossible. C++ bootcamps probably wouldn't spring up in your hypothetical ancient Rome and offering millions of dollars today for employees with skillsets that modern humans can't achieve wouldn't work either. The question is whether you or not the current bar of a "qualified candidate" is impossible. I would say no. Given the right financial incentives, the candidates will exist.