You raise problems that encompass society and would require massive effort to address. You would need to effect a groundswell sufficient to compel the governmen

You raise problems that encompass society and would require massive effort to address. You would need to effect a groundswell sufficient to compel the government to act in ways that go against powerful vested interests. A single software engineer or data scientist can't improve this situation by letting themselves be paid less than their peers (in a way that just enriches those powerful, vested interests), so I feel as though your criticisms are at least a little misplaced. It's possible for each individual to do more, but there's a limit to what we can realistically expect. No one is changing the world for the better even a little by being less assertive when it comes to their own salary, although they could allocate part of that salary to worthy causes. When you write this: > EVERYONE just seems too damn loud, too damn entitled, and never actually focused on even just identifying societal scale solutions to perceived issues I don't understand how not displaying what you feel is the requisite amount of gratefulness (by seeking a higher salary publicly) prevents people from identifying societal scale solutions to perceived issues. And I don't see how having every individual identify societal scale solutions to perceived issues really helps; that's a lot of cooks in the "let's fix society" kitchen. There's room for division of labor, right? I don't need to save the Amazon from deforestation, free Uighurs from detention camps, reduce food insecurity in rural Alabama, lobby US congresspeople to improve affordable housing, and try to rescue abandoned house rabbits in Columbus, OH. I can pay someone to do that stuff (because I've extracted enough value from my multibillion dollar market cap employer).