Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think it's a dishonest essay: >The first step is to decide what to work on. The work you choose needs to have three qualities: it has to be something you have a natural aptitude for, that you have a deep interest in, and that offers scope to do great work. >In practice you don't have to worry much about the third criterion. Ambitious people are if anything already too conservative about it. So all you need to do is…
Chasing money and making money is a virtue. Making money is not zero sum. If you are good at something and no one wants to pay for it, then you probably shouldn't be appreciated for it. There's nothing dishonest about what he is saying and if you think you can make money just by making it your optimising function then I suggest following it because that's the most pro-social thing you can do. The literal economy is d…
Depends on your definitions.
If by "chasing money", you mean "I want money, so I'm going to find out what people want badly enough to pay for, and I'm going to figure out a way to make that in a way that lets me profit", that may not be virtuous in a purely moral sense, but it's at least likely to lead to a virtuous outcome.
If by "chasing money", you mean "I want money, so I'll do whatever is the easiest way to make money, and that seems to be scams and grift so I'll start there", then no, there's nothing virtuous whatsoever there.