> become less like a gentleman's race and more like a cage fight. The primary mode of interaction has shifted from collaboration to competition.

Man does this resonate...for the last several years now I have recurring encounters of people in programming having no interest in doing or discovering what's Right, but rather only concerned about Winning petty arguments, pushing their agenda/tool/framework. The culture of programming to me feels largely corrupt. Or maybe I'm just in a bad mood for the last few years.