I worked in healthcare robotics for a spell. The management fell 50/50 into these buckets. More than once I had to remind some self-important person that we, in fact, did not "save lives" and that that was firmly the business of medical practitioners.

The first time it happened to me, I thought it was a joke. A manager wanted my help to debug some non-critical issue with one of the devices in the field and I told him multiple times that I had a hard stop at like 4PM for a dentist appointment. As it was getting close to the time I had to go, I kept reminding him and he wouldn't acknowledge me. I finally stood up and said I had to go and he responded, "Fine, go. It's not like we're saving lives around here." If I had been more confident in myself and my skills I'd have quit on the spot. Instead I just made some comment about how I'd help him the following morning and left.

I committed to myself to not let anyone get away with it again, though, and thankfully my manager, who was engineer #1 in this org and at the time was an engineering director, felt the same and had the political capital to call people out for it after hearing story.

To be honest, helping doctors in Africa is one of the few things I'd gladly label as advancing humanity.

Yes, but we’re only making software for them.