All this cash floating around also seems to lead to startups sucking up all the best talent. Do coding geniuses really need to be working on photo-sharing apps,

All this cash floating around also seems to lead to startups sucking up all the best talent. Do coding geniuses really need to be working on photo-sharing apps, as opposed to, say, rocket programming? I'm not sure your counterfactual is well-chosen. Round these parts (UK), bright physicists/engineers/compscis seem to mainly end up in finance, trying to stay on the right side of zero-sum-game financial jiggery-pokery. Photo sharing may not be the best possible outlet for their talents, but at least it has some social value.