It could be argued that the industry does not want people to know too much of the foundations, because the knowledgeable are harder to sway with fads and superficial arguments or keep under control. They want programmers to become fungible "resources", while something like SICP espouses the complete opposite philosophy.
That said, I think SICP preaches a bit too much about abstraction, although that's something a lot of programming texts do, and overabstraction is quite endemic in the industry even without SICP.
The fact that SICP also became a meme --- which you'll notice if you search for images of it --- may be another reason why it seems to have a cult following. The whole "anime girls holding programming books" meme started with SICP.
Who do you think is "the industry", and why would they prefer to hire PhDs if they are afraid of smart educated people?
How can you write that paragraphing trashing "industry" for not liking SICP, and then immediately segue into agreeing with them, and accusing them of being too much like SICP, while pretending you are superior?
The industry includes large organizations of middle managers, who prefer to hire PhDs because they have demonstrated near super-human abilities to submit themselves to the whims of overbearing bureaucracies.
The bit about overabstraction I read as a side-swipe at OOP and (perhaps?) a personal preference that maybe starting at the pinnacle of abstraction isn't the best way to present the fundamentals.
That said, I think SICP preaches a bit too much about abstraction, although that's something a lot of programming texts do, and overabstraction is quite endemic in the industry even without SICP.
The fact that SICP also became a meme --- which you'll notice if you search for images of it --- may be another reason why it seems to have a cult following. The whole "anime girls holding programming books" meme started with SICP.