For sure, everything is relative. If my previous career was killing myself 80 hours a week just to make a rich guy richer, then yeah, this job would seem much more gratifying for some of the reasons you mention. I see the replacement thing a little differently. The seniority system, with almost zero attached to performance or capability seems pretty willy nilly to me; the hiring practices seem pretty similar. Meeting a coworker for a few days and then never even seeing them again for... years, ever... again, pretty willy nilly/isolating.

Don't get me wrong, I love many of the things I just stated at this point in my life - being extremely detached from my employer and being able to almost exclusively focus on me and my family. However, when I look back, albeit sometimes with rose colored glasses, I'm glad I had other experiences throughout my earlier years.