"You are being pedantic developer fixated on numbers as a measure of value across the group. The world does not work this way."

Then how does it work? It seems that senior devs should make the same as junior devs if the numbers aren't tied to value.

"The business makes a decision based on what it takes to get what they need and salary can easily vary based on social aspects afterward. The number tells you something, but not everything."

On an individual level that might be true, but that doesn't address it at the aggregate level.