I think this can be easily read in two ways. On HN, the option to read it as an Ayn Rand style attack on the poor is likely to have more salience. But I think

I think this can be easily read in two ways. On HN, the option to read it as an Ayn Rand style attack on the poor is likely to have more salience. But I think, given the preceding paragraphs about having lots of goods that are poorly distributed, and having technology that "could" improve human lives, he meant it as "humanity in general are pretty shitty to each other, but there's a few people trying to do better, which is both smart and morally correct, and he hopes they win out". This is in the context of 1939 when Adolph Hitler had wide appeal.