In a complex system, productivity is often paradoxical. One realization or idea at the fringes of the random walk of progress can be worth the work of hundreds of millions of people on the known status quo. We need people exploring on the outskirts of reality and knowledge and life as much as we need the workers, and the people who do that are invariably the ones with a connection to their humanity and the humanity of others, like this person.

Your suggestion is sound: see the real world. Sure. But don't disparage humanism and ideation and self-discovery. It is truly our only hope.