Even in the scenario where they take a pay cut or reduce their salary so what? They were making huge amounts while making the active decisions that lead to you loosing your job. Eventually they'll get back to their regular salary and they still retain all the original benefits of the job.

Meanwhile even in the scenario where you got a severance you better hope you don't need any of those benefits. Namely insurance for ongoing medications or medical needs.

You're touching on a point i've been finding myself talking about with family and friends a lot. What's the point of moving to a city that pays you a seemingly high salary but the salary isn't anywhere near enough to actually live in the parts of town close to your office?

Plus if you scout out the correct stars or if your species becomes advanced enough to master stellar husbandry you'd just encourage many stars to become red dwarfs to ride out the heat death of the universe in style. The smaller red dwarfs have lifespans in the trillions of year range they fuse hydrogen so slowly that you are essentially guaranteeing an energy source for a long time.

I mean the article does mention that you're not necessarily looking at a pay cut but they also qualify that statement as no pay cuts for top talent. Which I guess is great if you're a top person in the tech field but for the rest of us seems a little unclear.