No academia isn't that bad. IMO it's not any worse than the job market, having been in both. I actually liked student life a bit better. Research is typically more interesting than project work. Both have their pros and cons, and all ultimately operate within our current status quo.

My next bias is that no matter what "cutting edge" you create or invent, technology isn't going to solve the shit storm of global warming, our collapsing democracy, inequality, environmental mass extinction, and a plethora of problems our world is facing. The business world isn't solving that either.

I guess ultimately I have no faith in status quo powerful institutions... If they were so fucking great, our problems would be solved. Yet they're not.