> smart women are more likely to go into medicine, law, and general management
Smart men are more likely to seek more lucrative fields, too.
Software is sort of a second tier profession. We're constantly trying to dumb things down to the point that we can fill all the open positions with human livestock. At least since COVID, most of us don't have to work in bullpens anymore.
You're absolutely right, of course. I only note this: smart men are likely to seek more lucrative fields if they're informed about the actual odds. Having a high IQ doesn't mean all that much if you haven't got data.
Software plays on male quixotry, yes, but it's able to do so because the average 22-year-old man has friends of the same age group and has never dated anyone older than 22 (because, honestly, he can't... he has nothing to offer women 25+ and they aren't interested). Women, who usually have dated (or at least have friends who have dated) men in their late 20s and possibly 30s, are exposed to high-quality information about which careers actually deliver on their promises; men are not. Men might get advice from their parents, but that's going to be 30 years out of date, in a country where the career game has gone from Easy Mode to Psychopath Mode in a generation.
Smart men are more likely to seek more lucrative fields, too.
Software is sort of a second tier profession. We're constantly trying to dumb things down to the point that we can fill all the open positions with human livestock. At least since COVID, most of us don't have to work in bullpens anymore.