[m_i_s_t]

Much of what you write here is perceptive, until:

"Things are terrible right now for cognitive 1-percenters who want meaningful, interesting work (i.e. an upper middle class salary isn't enough, and it's never "stable" for top-0.x-percent intellects because of the job security risks that level of talent implies)"

You write as if you need the monetary and security advantage of the climbers while at the same time needing the artistic/intellectual liberty of the "cognitive 1-percenter". We don't need that. Basically all the brilliant intellectuals that I've been blessed to be surrounded by is happy and productive without the money and social recognition -- as long as there is room for learning and creativity. Of course, heaps of money and recognition are welcome. But not needed. And certainly their absence is not the ground for recrimination (again, as long as there is learning, freedom and creativity -- with some basic food on the table).