[tsewlliw]

There is nothing wrong with being at work just for the money, and it most definitely does not mean you are cynical. Funding a family or a hobby is a rewarding and valuable life to live. Being in it for the money can be a really powerful way to push through a lot of hard and boring work that nobody capable of doing could possibly be passionate about.

[AndrewKemendo]

I think that is globally true, largely because for the vast majority of people that is the best that they can hope for given their station.

I however am restricting my evaluation to the domain [high-tech] : [startup], which after all is the core demographic for HN and YC more broadly.

In that context I don't think it's an optimal outlook - and in fact I think it is detrimental to the zeitgeist and pushes further away from the PARC roots of paradigm setting technology development.

I grant that in the current environment it's "idealistic" but I think at the core, the real innovators still have the vision of changing the future through technology - at least I do, and I know I'm not alone in that.