not at all an expert, but in my mind I like to think of it as a mental illness.
very few people feel the need to hoard vast amounts of wealth to the point of needing to burn it. very few people feel the need to sacrifice whatever it takes, even human life, to achieve their desires of superiority and control. very few people have so much influence on a global scale yet so little in their personal relationships.
it’s these very few people that have changed and gamed the system in order to make themselves feel a twisted sort of accomplishment over being better than everyone else, controlling what everyone gets to do and getting paid for it many times over. it’s these very few that are the “successful” sociopaths of the modern world because they are so empty they have nothing else to live for but to watch others suffer just to feel something.
teach em young, railfan makes for a happy life