Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have also come to the conclusion independently that a lot of companies are bullshit companies, maybe that is closer to the core issue. For the individuals who do have some choice in the matter, I think it is important to hold on to their skills by continuing to use them. It sucks that our work culture is so competitive, but from that angle I believe they will stand out eventually as more competent.
Most companies are real, it's just that a good fraction of the work is mostly unnecessary. Partially because of the overhead of doing business activities that is unneeded most of the time, partly because we don't know what work will be useful, and partly for silly social reasons
I keep coming back to the idea that all the upheaval combined with all the new tools at our disposal will empower and motivate people to start businesses that challenge the status quo. I've lived long enough to see that play out at scale, it is basically how we got Google. That might not sound encouraging, but Google was once a really inspiring company and one of the best places to work.