Being rich in this case wouldn't be a reward for his attitude, but for solving the problem of people who want secure, usable backup systems.
I'm not saying being rich would entitle him to any particular behaviour; they're orthogonal things.
About the hypothetical waitress, either she could find another job to pay for college, or otherwise her ability to go to college depends on cperciva getting rich.
There are other examples where you could argue that raw capitalism may not be in the general interest. Think, for example, of real state; that's more of a zero sum game. In my area, rich foreign people are buying most of the real estate for summer houses they'll visit once every other year or so, while locals have a hard time to find a first accomodation due to pumped prices. Many people have to migrate to save up for a house here. Since the utility of that real estate is way lower for the foreign rich than for the local poor, I claim that in this case raw capitalism is reducing overall value.
I'm not saying being rich would entitle him to any particular behaviour; they're orthogonal things.
About the hypothetical waitress, either she could find another job to pay for college, or otherwise her ability to go to college depends on cperciva getting rich.
There are other examples where you could argue that raw capitalism may not be in the general interest. Think, for example, of real state; that's more of a zero sum game. In my area, rich foreign people are buying most of the real estate for summer houses they'll visit once every other year or so, while locals have a hard time to find a first accomodation due to pumped prices. Many people have to migrate to save up for a house here. Since the utility of that real estate is way lower for the foreign rich than for the local poor, I claim that in this case raw capitalism is reducing overall value.