I agree it is a very competitive career, mostly a winner take all world, and require a certain audacity and ego to make it through.

I would disagree that, just because a small percentage of them succeed, the artist path is a waste of resources.

The small number of big successes over the history have more than made up for the majority of failures in art.

Perhaps a more hacker news analogy is this: just because most start ups fail does not mean that pursuing start ups are a waste of resources. The competition creates a dialogue for people to tinker and figure out what really resonates with society.