> titles were necessary to map to a dimwitted external reality where someone would look at a business card and apply an immediate judgement on ability based on title

When I joined company X it was as a contract "Technical Writer". Then they hired me in as an FTE "Technical Writer. Over the next two years I did a lot less writing and a lot more wiki support and app development., Every time I would ask "can we change my title to reflect what I actually do?" and my manager and HR said "Oh, don't worry about it, no one really looks at the title."

Then my manager was laid off and I got a new manager. I kept doing what I did. And a year later my manager said "you don;t write enough. You do too much support and app development. You are a Tech Writer and must Find Things To Write."

I found another manager. We worked on changing my job title. Now I was a "Web Developer". ALl went well until...

My manager resigned and the team reorged and, based on my title, I was dropped into a backend development team. I still did (front end) wiki support and app development.

My new manager said "your job title is Web Developer". My team is developers. You can become a back end developer or you can leave.

Three months later they "eliminated" my position.

You bet titles are toxic.