I think it's common for young men to attach their self image and overall worth to how much better they're doing vs. other young men their age. They're basically Pirsig's "ego climbers" and would certainly do well for themselves to get the hell out of the valley at least until such time as they could return as selfless climbers.

They could of course stick around and perhaps achieve a positive self image by out competing or out maneuvering their peers. Obviously a huge amount of them do.

I think that describes much of the startup scene altogether. A lot of people seem willing to forgo a surer path to wealth by taking options instead of salary (as worked out here many times). Is it because they want to be really, really rich? I think it's more that they want the hero narrative that VCs and The Social Network have sold them. As the reality of being cheap labor while you read about the latest lottery winners reasserts itself, it's natural to get depressed.

A culture of jockeying egos isn't a healthy conducive environment to those who are collaborative-focused and decidedly anti-competitive.