We have some kind of superpower in our 20s. You can work like dogs all day and night and still be productive in the morning.
Biologically speaking it’s probably because those are prime child rearing years and that effort is needed to raise children. Instead Goldman Sachs gets those years. Hopefully it was worth it to all in the grind.
Few people are responsibly having kids in their early twenties. Goldman got the time, but their alumni got the cash and cachet.
Not defending the practices in the complaint. 90+ hours is excessive. I turned down that lifestyle and think I’ve done decently well for myself. But being dismissive about the power, wealth and material comforts that work opens one up to is ignoring a strong signalling mechanism in our society.
In most of human history your kids would old enough to help you on the farm by the time you reached your early 20’s!
The signal is probably not so much the raw energy level, but the discipline to focus that energy on a task. If you choose to work that hard at 20 instead of spending half your day hanging out with friends, that might be a good signal for how hard you'll work when you're 40. It is in my personal experience, but that doesn't say much.
The ability to work 70+ hours week after week after week and keeping the quality reasonably high, that doesn't change as much. It's also something you can't convince people to be able to by offering more money.