Would have here confuse me,what the purpose f it here,what if said we ever concieved'past simpl'?
t's not just, though, these days, adults who overwork, though, is it? It's children, too. I'm 37, and my childhood ended in the mid-'80s, and I look at kids now, and I'm just amazed by the way they race around with more homework, more tutoring, more extracurriculars than ''we would ever have conceived of a generation ago''

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so if I understand correctly your question is, is it correct to use:
(a) than we ever conceived of a generation ago
instead of:
(b) than we would ever have conceived of a generation ago
and what is the difference in meaning.

Well I see no issue with it really. Some might argue that you need have because the conception of the idea is linked until the present time, but really both choices are fine. The use of would have however qualifies the statement as being more opinion than fact. It's common to do this because he can only factually talk about what he conceived (than I conceived of), but he wants to use we in order to engage the reader, and so needs to qualify the statement more as opinion else a reader may disagree.

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