Imagining a world where all the candidates from everywhere could move to SF, etc for their ideal job, do you think wages would rise or fall? Hint: They'd fall. A free market economy is left no other choice than to treat the job "environment" as a "job market", complete with the dynamics of supply and demand.

It's a very small component actually. "Value contributed over nominal employee" might be a better way to think about it. Compensation is set almost exclusively on "What must we pay you to keep you from leaving and doing the same thing for the company that is the same distance from where you chose to live. If there ISN'T another company, its vastly less. If the thing you do is something that everyone can do, it's vastly less.

If y'all are taking this offline, may I join, at least to read? (Not sure if I'll have input or not, really just looking to learn) Reply with forum/ contact if you don't mind.

AH! I immediately googled "My God is never so small as to hide in the cracks of reality" because it sounds so much like something Bonhoeffer would say. Well done. Also, excellent point, I might disagree with your disbelieving in a supernatural God, especially in terms of design and origin, but yes, physics is an incredible canvas. "For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse." Romans 1:20