[VladRussian2]

>I mean no offense to you personally, but I fail to understand how this problem fits in a world in which 2.5 billion people lack basic sanitation.

some of the people making big on some app will become the next Musk (though unfortunately some will become the next Thiel) and will work on the big problems our civilization faces. That is is the beauty of SV - it allows people doing business here (or even merely employed) to generate resources to try to tackle something bigger. It is like springboard.

[CodeMage]

Let's be honest: how many Thiels per Musk do we get? Somehow I fail to see the beauty in this alleged springboard.

[VladRussian2]

the beauty here that it sometimes produces a Musk at all. Nothing else does it. The closest we'd got is Gates - while not SV geographically, it is the same approach - make money in hi-tech and apply it to solve a big problem.