I understand, but I guess I've just come to believe the only things that get funded, whether by VCs or by governments or by internal approval in an established

I understand, but I guess I've just come to believe the only things that get funded, whether by VCs or by governments or by internal approval in an established company, are low-risk incremental variations on consumer bullshit, generally encased in two or three layers of political bullshit. This is true in academia, law, medicine, start-ups, finance, defense research, food innovation, climate science, optimal philanthropy, policy analysis, media, advertising, education, consulting, urban planning, and design. For most humans, they have near zero chance of earning a living in any way in which this isn't true. So even though many of us desire the bulk of our labor (the huge chunk utilized to earn a living via a job) to contribute to "something that matters" the option literally fails to exist. Worse is that some of the areas that are bad on the low-risk, incremental bullshit projects and politics, such as working for NGOs or non-profits that supposedly "have an impact," often rob you of everything. Not only do you end up having the same non-impact as if you had worked at that marketing job, but also you are paid far less, and the other working conditions are worse. I haven't yet heard of anything apart from some rare, niche aspects of things like professional athletics, professional music, professional acting, etc., that offer someone the chance to explore work that they believe is meaningful. And even then you have to usually hoof it doing bullshit and/or low-paying stuff for decades before reaching a point in which you can explore what you find meaningful. I'm not saying anyone else should see it like I do, but my feeling is that in terms of a constructive impact on the world at large, I need to first recognize that I'm just one of 7 billion and pretty much nothing I do will matter. Heck, pretty much nothing Bill Gates does will matter in even just 50-100 years. So then I should look for tiny, marginal ways to explore meaning, and probably if I let my mode of employment just be about gaining capital, then outside of work I might be able to do more that at least feels meaningful to me. That's just how I see it though. I am certain others have found many different approaches that work for different people.