Why Everyone Feels Like They’re Losing

We’re in a paradoxical situation where although America nominally is wealthier than ever, at the same time, it’s become too hard to succeed for the median person, whether in academia, business, or pretty much anything else in life. This contradiction can be explained by an increasingly skewed distribution of returns, where extreme outliers capture enormous gains, but the median does worse. The outliers inflate the mean, creating the illusion of shared success or a rising tide. This is especially prevalent in tech jobs, finance, and academia, where rejection rates are extremely high, but at the same time there are superstar performers who are immeasurably successful, from star academics, multi-billionaire AI founders and VCs, or multi-millionaire employees. Intense interviews and screening filter out all but the cream of the crop. This has led to an arms race between employers and “cheating software,” the latter designed to give applicants a needed leg up or reprieve in what has become…