With Sandberg's announcement of her schedule there is an opportunity to overhaul the incumbent overworking philosophy. I think writers who align should propagate what's right and healthy about this rather than dismissing the notion in its infancy.
The more support (or perceived support) there is for balance, the more likely it is to be tolerated.
I'm not sure top software engineers are worried. Despite a rough economy and the poetic justice of hubris, most software engineers can probably afford to set their own hours, to a reasonable extent. If it isn't tolerated they can start their own company, perhaps with a relatively better work-life balance for themselves and their employees.
I think there is some inductive logic in here; assuming the future will look like the past simply because previous futures have looked like previous pasts is not entirely reliable.
It's safe to assume that things will generally regress to their mean, but they often don't - stock market movements are way more volatile than they should be, for example.
It's possible that technology will advance far enough to perform all of the mundane but necessary work, leaving us to do something else with our time.
I'm not sure when that will happen or how it will be received, but it would be cool to not have to do things you didn't love just to stay alive.
The more support (or perceived support) there is for balance, the more likely it is to be tolerated.
I'm not sure top software engineers are worried. Despite a rough economy and the poetic justice of hubris, most software engineers can probably afford to set their own hours, to a reasonable extent. If it isn't tolerated they can start their own company, perhaps with a relatively better work-life balance for themselves and their employees.