I have been wondering the same thing myself. I would go a step further and suggest that non-lonely crosswalks should work to prioritize pedestrians over cars.
Even in a place like California where pedestrians supposedly have the right-of-way, it would encourage more walking if we try not to make it an inconvenience.
This can be a cultural thing. In particular, if I understand correctly, in India it is considered rude not to make small talk before jumping into work. (I'm slightly autistic too but it's not completely useless. I ended up taking a trip to India at one point, and such trips are much easier if you've put in the effort to understand the culture, and your coworkers everyday lives.) I would suggest trying not to be so brief. Ask about their family, their commute to work, etc - get to know them a little better.
Coming from India, we do not talk like that in our native language. I am guessing it is because we have been repeatedly told that is how americans talk (reinforced by movies and TV shows). Now, I start with just a greeting and jump to the issue.. "Hey P!! Good morning.. I just want to check about issue XXX". It sounds less rude, but does not ask the banal questions.
Sorry but a prime number generator called "Optimus" is an awesome idea.
I also kind of disagree that an "unpronounceable Gaelic word" is a poor choice. Seems like cultural discrimination. People all over the world write software, not just people who can pronounce English words.
I think you have a point about regulatory capture. I would say, however, that in a market with massively unequal wealth distribution, those that control the capital are (1) looking for the best return on investment and (2) know that land value will continue to appreciate as long as population growth is trending up. I think you would need to both fix the massive wealth inequality _and_ the massively corrupt and inefficient zoning laws in order to address the whole problem. If you only fix regulation, the rich can still just buy up all the land and become modern day feudal lords and rent-seekers.
I've been in the industry for over two decades... I am in this post, and I don't like it. :)
When I started, dial-up internet was the best we could do. Our generation hoped that, by wiring up the world with internet connectivity, we would bring people closer together... so that humanity, as a whole, could realize that we have more in common than we have differences. So that facts and knowledge could be shared and humanity could get better at collaborating. To some degree, that has happened. In other ways, technology has worked in more counter-productive ways, accelerating the spread of lies and misinformation as "alternative facts".
Honestly though, as a teenager, I got into computers because I liked video games, and I wanted to learn how to make them. Post-college, I realized that the games industry was abusive, overly competitive, and low-paying... and if I wanted to support myself, I would be better off doing "boring" software. So that's where I ended up.
Even so, it was always my hope that my work in tech would make the world a better place, somehow... even if only indirectly. I preferred working on open source software. I tried to work for companies with decent values, with people who cared about more than just making money.
To some degree, I'm content. I make enough to support my family and put a roof over their heads. Hopefully they can go to college and afford housing. Hopefully climate change and idiocracy won't set them up for failure.
But honestly, I'm not just disillusioned from working in tech. I'm burned out on life. The hopes and dreams of my generation have not been fulfilled. Humanity is not coming together to solve our biggest problems. Instead, we have narcissistic world leaders who continue to divide us, choose war over peace, and impose suffering over equality and human rights. None of the biggest technology companies are moving that needle in the right direction in any meaningful way (at least that I can see).
At this point, I just don't know if there is any tech company I could work at that could possibly make a real difference in the world.
I think you are mistaken about the relevance of high school. For a lot of people, high school was a traumatic and/or violent experience that they would rather forget. Does making high school "suddenly relevant" put up an artificial barrier-to-entry for candidates that were able to overcome bad experiences in high school and move on to something better? What about candidates who say something like "high school was awful and I got out as quickly as I could"? Maybe you have a bias in hiring toward candidates who are good at "making stuff up that sounds good"?
Life after high school is also full of trauma and difficulty. I think one of our problems in society today is that advertising and social media pump out a false narrative of beauty and success which makes people feel like failures just because they are suffering and struggling, when both of those things are the act of living as far as I can see.
How do you deal with adversity? How do you deal with peer pressure? How do you motivate yourself to work on things that feel irrelevant? How do you choose your hobbies and the people you associate with? Those are important things to assess in a potential colleague. And this is just one potential angle on how one might assess them.
As for "making stuff up that sounds good", you are correct, some people are better at that than others. Fortunately we have clear and objective measures of that to work with so forewarned is forearmed.
Even in a place like California where pedestrians supposedly have the right-of-way, it would encourage more walking if we try not to make it an inconvenience.