Frankly, most people don't need to be constantly buying new things. They should be buying less, fixing what they've got, saving more, going outside and getting exercise.
Agreed on the 'changing the world' bs, though there are some that genuinely seem to have that goal (Watsi, for instance).
And yes, people usually do not need all that they are buying but then again, it keeps the economy going, I'm having a hard time imagining a world where everybody behaves like MMM does, it would not scale.
https://danluu.com/startup-tradeoffs/
And in spite of your personal anecdote, after 13-14 years (35-22) at a BigCo it is certainly possible for anyone who could have founded a successful startup to gross enough money to retire.
If you're selling consumerism and buying mustachianism, it means you think the former is overpriced.
Also with rampant ageism in tech you do need to retire before 40 /s
A lot of people seem to have an incredible resistance to the idea of riding a bike in NYC based on pure nonsense. Biking is safe, fast, and cheap. We don't need self-driving cars, we need investment in walking, biking, and public transit infrastructure.