While we're on HN I ask the same question about software engineers. How did (do) so many people make a living producing Twitter or Facebook? If that isn't luxury I don't know what is.
If I had to choose, I think I'd rather live in a world full of poets than software engineers.
Poets as a social gain I can see, but in terms of the financial gain? Not so clear.
One could make the claim that they create artistic spaces that turn crime-ridden areas into havens of expression, which bankers then seem to value and then buy houses in (whereby the cycle begins anew until the city is fully gentrified)
I hate the idea. But they could.
Most actors and musicians don't make a living doing those things, either.
> If I had to choose, I think I'd rather live in a world full of poets than software engineers.
Absolutely. It's not even close.