The fact does not contradict economic analyses, it points out what a great shift there has been.
Of course working for the atomic bomb or a cold war fuelled space race is also questionable, but the motivation of people doing it was for the perceived common greater good, while now we seem to be drowned in greed and vanity.
> for the perceived common greater good
Even if we agree with this myth, there is an infinite amount of that in AI! People literally think they'll save humanity if they invent AGI! So even here there is no shift
> People literally think they'll save humanity if they invent AGI!
Yes, but do any of them work for Zuckerberg or with LeCun? The impression I've been getting is they see the idea of superintelligence as more like the Young Lady's Illustrated Primer, rather than as a Culture Mind.