You want society to advance so you throw money at innovative businesses, even though you know they most often fail. Maybe we should consider that it is already quite difficult to make a successful business, that for the business to also bring about a significant positive change in society is extremely unlikely. So if we truly are serious about wanting to improve society, maybe we shouldn't use it as an excuse to gamble on startups with the illusion of winning big. Maybe we should accept that we are much more likely to improve society by spending the money on a social or cultural project that doesn't even try to be economically sustainable, and instead puts all its focus on catalyzing a lasting improvement in the world. 

We spend a lot of effort and time working to understand new technology and markets. What if we shifted to spend a lot of time on understanding community prosperity and human flourishing? If we did we would see that we can discover its secrets.