You are completely ignoring the enormous value that financial activities provide for society. Efficient capital markets, risk pricing and exchange are fundamental ingredients to an effective economy. Do you think these businesses get paid for nothing?
What you describe sounds like regression, which is a powerful technique with varied applications, but is not the same as deep learning. Aspects from calculus do play an important role in ML notably in the gradient descent algorithm used to adjust weights. If you’re interested in learning more I recommend the 3blue1brown series on YouTube
I would absolutely classify a tardigrade as an intelligent system. Systems of parts interacting in an intelligent way applies to more than just networks of nerve cells.
I was born almost a month premature. I didn't start talking until much later than my siblings and am markedly less social. I've also read that brain lateralization may occur later in pregnancy and although my family is all right-handed, I am very left side dominant. It's kind of a bummer to read this, but at least anecdotally, it agrees my experience.