It's interesting that he made the argument about smart people developing exotic financial instruments not having much societal benefit. The same argument could probably be made of most (but not all) tech startups. The next facebook widget, or cool web-app is hardly going solve our environmental & health problems.
I've heard this criticism frequently of late. Very few Facebook widgets are going to improve the human condition (Scrabulous aside, of course). I wonder if the problem is related to such businesses requiring more emphasis on physical products, interfaces to external groups and labor and other things which turn off start-ups or raise the cost barrier. I don't know, but it's worth thinking about what the extra barrier might be and how to knock it down. I would bet the answer is not a lack of compassion, but something to do with the general requirements. The barrier couldn't be lower, these days, for a Facebook app but of course a good challenge is one that leaves a huge distance behind you to the next competitor.
