[iansimon]

Other people being willing to pay for something doesn't necessarily make it positive-sum or economically productive. A lot of startups (certainly not all) seem to be trying to win tournaments: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tournament_theory

In that sense, SF is is similar to Hollywood. And the result is that society devotes too many resources to the next big social network or the next big summer blockbuster, and not enough to, say, making comfortable chairs.