> I agree that there's an issue with grandiosity, but I'm still unsure if it's a net positive or negative for society. I believe that is a net negative for two

> I agree that there's an issue with grandiosity, but I'm still unsure if it's a net positive or negative for society. I believe that is a net negative for two reasons: (1) grandiosity is a sign of people tying their self-worth to their achievements and (2) grandiosity is a sign of a lack of healthy self-critique. Tying your self-worth to your success, especially in a high-risk activity, is a recipe for long-term inconsistency and increased personal risk (which in turn impacts net productivity). Too much optimism and self-confidence is a recipe for stagnation, and that's what we see for the most part in the startup / app-development world. For instance, perhaps if people were a bit more self-critical, they would discover that historically most technical innovation has occurred in the context of large, well-funded research programs. People might then choose to, rather than starting that social media website that will change the world or hacking together that 'cool' project for Maker Faire, study computer science and take a job at Microsoft Research, PARC or SpaceX. Or something else. But any behavior that reduces the extent to which people think about their actions is probably bad.