in general I would say you have a valid point, however I did NOT make piles of money on wall st (or rather, I did make alot, but spent it all in profligate ways). I do have a small warchest, and somehow manage to make more money each year than I spend because I've drastically reduced expenses, but I am not wealthy by any (U.S.)standards.

Perhaps I have a mutation -things like truth and discovery have always been more valuable to me, even in MBA graduate school. Of course, this assumes I have food on table and roof over head and next years food and roof paid for etc.. If I had unlimited funds, I would write much more often here - you are right about that. Oh, that is if I had finished my phd, finished my speeches, planted my garden, read the 30+ books I have sitting here, spent time with friends, exercised, etc. etc. Dunbars number applies to the human cognitive limitations of how many people we can realistically have relationships with, I don't know if theres a name for how many activities a 1400 cubic centimeter brain can physically handle...but whatever the name/number is, I'm close to it. (Schizophrenia to follow...)

Matt- I'm no saint and don't claim to be. If I really wanted to make money doing peak oil/resource depletion research, I'd do it privately with a hedge fund, etc. To me this is more socially rewarding, (except for the BS administrative side...) But its not all a one way street - I have learned tons from the commenters in this community, things that would be difficult to find elsewhere all in one place.

Then again, this all may be my own self-deception, which will be the subject of my next post as it relates to Peak Oil, Climate Change and resource depletion.