Unless you invented the Haber-Bosch process it's unlikely you've contributed anything appreciable. All of us are scions of thousands of years of human progress

Unless you invented the Haber-Bosch process it's unlikely you've contributed anything appreciable. All of us are scions of thousands of years of human progress without which it wouldn't matter how smart or motivated you were because you'd just be a member of a small hunter gatherer band. Capitalism is great because it strokes our need to feel like we contribute but that's all. Humans don't like to be freeloaders or cheats and markets are a very good way to use that predilection, but it's important not to go cargo culting over the belief that individuals add any appreciable value to society.