Imagine being in the last phase of life and finding your only motivation to create or share anything is the opportunity to extract as much value from society as possible.

Many people find motivation to give to their heirs in their last phase of life.

I don't see anyone here judging you for going to work and wanting to be compensated for your efforts. But suddenly authors are "extract[ing] as much value from society as possible"? That's just rude. If we're being honest, it's much better for society that an author gets that money than someone working at Facebook.

Imagine being in the last phase of life and finding you have to work full time as a Walmart greeter because you can’t support yourself as a working artist anymore due to ageist pricks being in charge of policy.