> you've seen plenty of people that didn't do what he did?

Yes, because I've seen them build software that was actually used. And I've seen a few that did just like him, impressive sounding projects that had no usage.

I understand it's something subjective. I get the same feeling when looking at Damien Hirst's monstrouly expensive stuff that leaves me cold. Even after I get the concepts behind the works, my end feeling is of "so what?".

Your calibration around skill gradients but also cause and effect is so far off that I'm wondering how you manage to navigate reality.