I would agree with your first paragraph if we were all strictly rational machines. But I think that the key to long-term progress and success is to give people

I would agree with your first paragraph if we were all strictly rational machines. But I think that the key to long-term progress and success is to give people the greatest degree of freedom possible, combined with incentives (i.e. salaries, grants, awards) toward things that help society. When you start stigmatizing or punishing people for choices that aren't even bad -- they just aren't "good enough" -- then there's no way that won't backfire and just instigate (rightful) resentment and anger. I really would not be frustrated that Superman was not doing superhero stuff. It's very hard to herd someone smart or capable into doing something they don't genuinely want to do, and I doubt it's usually productive in the end. I have to admit, I take this personally, because I may not be Superman, but I sit around writing little stories that nobody but me will ever read, reading books that do little practical good but to fill me with a sense of beauty and contentment; I shoot some pool, play some chess, and I work on software that exists primarily to satisfy my curiousity or to make me money. Most of it doesn't help anyone else very much, and I like it that way. I think I have the right to do whatever I please, as long as I take care of myself and my friends without doing harm to other folks on the planet. When a man comes up to me, as has happened, and talks about how I have a duty to make an impact on the world, I want to kick that man.