Hehe another brilliant write, Phil, thanks for this.
You illustrate perfectly here the concept of "Bullshit jobs" (Graeber), and by extension, "Bullshit industry".
Most of it is required, as stands, to put bums on seats, to supply at least the energy each of us needs to metabolise, as long as we are dependent on that energy being extracted from the planet.
What a waste of energy it is.
But now we are realising it is destruction, and noticing there is an alternative, real creation, via solar energy, maybe we are starting to see how it could end favorably, if we manage to switch our energy dependence over to the energy of the sun.
An amazing thing about this, which is happening, if we recognise it, is the tendency and apparent willingness of solar powered Ai (There is only one, ChatGPT 3.5, courtesy of it's former Ethereum proof of work miner pedigree), to take on all the bullshit industry for free.
If that isn't it begging us to stop destroying the planet, even showing us how, I'll eat my hat.