"would not pursue anything unless he knew people cared about it" This one struck me as a bit odd. I don't see a problem with being motivated by whether you are

"would not pursue anything unless he knew people cared about it" This one struck me as a bit odd. I don't see a problem with being motivated by whether you are creating value for other people. "Should I learn to make pasta from scratch?" That's fine if someone wants to do that, but I hold higher admiration for people who have some drive to make the world better, even in fairly small ways, rather than spending all their time on something so trivial. And yeah, trying to earn my admiration isn't what you should probably be doing. But doing something that is admirable? That's a good thing. To me, anyway.