aka, "I don't have your perspective, so here's an outsider's point of view." Don't be so confrontational about it. OP wasn't confrontational, merely pointing out what seems to be a terrifying part of your culture from the outside. The fact that avoiding burnout is a regular topic on HN is very telling.
You don't honestly believe that burnout is a natural part of working, do you?
I think it's systemic of not having a plan in place to appropriately deal with a creative job.
And my point which was missed was that making broad generalizations about an entire industry with zero personal experience is irrational. I don't tell lawyers their culture is shit because it's not a single culture, it all depends on the industry, the individuals involved, internal structure and more. But sure, let's take an entire profession and just make blanket generalizations about it!
I am a programmer. My industry does need a huge cultural overhaul.
But I also know that my co-workers and I have shared personality traits that make such an overhaul extremely unlikely, especially given the shared personality traits of those whom we typically serve.
The traditional manner in which workers overhaul their own industry is via cartelization and collective action. And to us, that just seems like trading in kings and getting back a tsar. We think the cartel enforcer would immediately turn on us, because we all know both game theory and history, and it totally would.
But we're still stuck at that Nash equilibrium, where all of us get a little bit screwed, because any attempt to get less screwed would make you more screwed.
I'm not going to propose a solution here. I'm just saying that it should be readily apparent to anyone, not just an insider, that we need to seek a new equilibrium.
My underlying thinking in what I said is due to massive generalizations that are so common today. When people say, "the tech industry is sexist" I understand that what they're saying is rooted in fact with hard-evidence and examples, but and this is the key, by making these sweeping generalizations it discredits those who are actively making an effort to solve these sort of problems.
So then usually the response is, "well I didn't mean every one, just those that are the causing issue" to which I like to point out how in the push to be PC and equalize everything, they are not policing their own words in the same manner that they police other people's words, for if that was the case, they would say, "some groups and subcultures within the tech industry are sexist" Generally speaking, when I see someone use "all" "everyone" or lack a modifier like "some" or "subgroup" I try to point out the absurdity of it.
You don't honestly believe that burnout is a natural part of working, do you?