Interestingly, I'm not sure a neurosurgeon is that great an example. What neurosurgeons do is amazing, and life-changing for the people they help. However, onl

Interestingly, I'm not sure a neurosurgeon is that great an example. What neurosurgeons do is amazing, and life-changing for the people they help. However, only an extremely small proportion of the population will ever receive treatment from a neurosurgeon. So, I'd argue that the net benefit of a neurosurgeon to society is relatively small compared to say Neurophysiologists (ie similar speciality, but not a doctor) and General Practitioners (ie doctor, but not the speciality), who both treat a far larger percentage of the population, and both get paid much less.