> The idea that we live in a meritocracy, and intelligence and novelty are rewarded more than being a corporate drone.

But this argument assumes that financial incentives actually encourage and yield good work. Studies have shown this to be false. When you provide monetary incentives to achieve a goal, the outcomes are worse than the outcomes from people who pursued the same goals for no financial incentives.

Without financial incentives, people do work that gives them purpose and meaning, which ends up helping other people more than any financially incentivized goals.