Although I agree with your main point (it's closer to the truth that the point of economics is so that we can do mathematics, than the other way around), perhaps it can be refined to incorporate the fact that not all experience is cognitive; not all enjoyment is intellectual. The feeling of joy/bliss/whatever from being with friends and family, of doing a job well, of leaving a legacy, of having good health, dignity, curiosity, material comfort, relationships, spiritual growth, having a good “life story” for oneself / serving some higher purpose etc (everything on “Maslow's hierarchy“), are not always cognitive or even conscious in nature, though some (like curiosity) tend to be.
The Greeks used the word eudaimonia for this highest / all-encompassing utility function (the experience that everything is in service of: the “point”); in Indian thought it's called ānanda. But yeah, making money is only a means to it, and not the point. (Even this understanding can get clouded. In Indian thought, “religion” only posits a higher ānanda that can be obtained by experience of the divine, without denying the everyday sorts of joy that resemble it. In Western thought, influenced by the monotheistic religions with their opposition between true and false, the fact that neither money nor comfort is the highest good gets reflected in ideas like “money is the root of all evil” or “Happiness versus Meaning” that tend to vilify them in order to counter our impulses towards them, rather than recognize them as being partial means to some components of happiness. It's fine; whatever works I guess.)
PS: Totally offtopic, but thanks for your transcript of Knuth's Web of Stories interview!