There's certainly ageism in Silicon Valley, but if we magically got rid of it tomorrow it's not like startups would suddenly be flooded by applicants my age and older. Most older people select themselves out of Silicon Valley because most older people have lives outside of work, and they're not going to put up with the inefficient and pointless lets-all-work-twelve-hours-a-day bullshit you so often get from entrepreneurs and coworkers in their mid-twenties.
If we really wanted to achieve age diversity in Silicon Valley, we'd not just have to get rid of ageism, we'd have to change the work culture to something a wee bit more rational - and that's just not going to happen as long as all the major institutions glorify overwork to the point of burnout.
If we really wanted to achieve age diversity in Silicon Valley, we'd not just have to get rid of ageism, we'd have to change the work culture to something a wee bit more rational - and that's just not going to happen as long as all the major institutions glorify overwork to the point of burnout.