Swag is no good if no one uses it, so put that before cost or branding. The reason YC t-shirts are gray instead of orange is simply that the gray shi… - Paul Graham

It's an unimpressive-sounding word, but one of the most powerful motivations is the motivation of the hobbyist. That's what keeps successful founders working on their companies long past the point when they've made enough to quit. It's their beloved project.

This was naturally a great incentive, and possibly indeed the main cause of the second big change, industrialization. A great deal has been written about the causes of the Industrial Revolution. But surely a necessary, if not sufficient, condition was that people who made fortunes be able to enjoy them in peace.

It's not a sufficient defense of activism to claim that it "increases awareness" of a problem. There are forms of activism that increase awareness and yet set back efforts to solve the problem.