I think the author has met very few PhDs - in my experience, as a group they're very aware that if they continue to work in research, their work will neither be

I think the author has met very few PhDs - in my experience, as a group they're very aware that if they continue to work in research, their work will neither be important to most people outside of their field, nor reap great economic rewards. In fact the more I think about it, the more this reads as an anti-academic screed - basically dunking on those with high educational attainments or artistic abilities, but only a middle-of-the-road income to show for it. And also triathletes.