Why aren't SW developers working on more important problems?

I'm a software developer. Specifically, I'm a software only developer. I've never built a robust enough skillset working with hardware, be that electronics, microcontroller programming or god forbid, mechanical engineering, to even attempt to solve many important real world problems. There are just not that many problems that can be solved with an app.

Would I love to? Sure. I can buy myself an Arduino, a laser cutter and a 3D printer, but that's still a very long way off from being able to design something that is mass producable and solves a problem. As far as I can tell from my armchair, that would, at the very least, require some background in PCB design, metal working, probably more.

What's worse, I'm the same distance away from being able to do it as a job, no matter how good of a coder I am, so if anything, this would have to be a hobby for a long time. If I went at it, it would take me 5-10 years to build these skills. That's a long time for someone in their late 30s with a family.

If I had the time and resources, here are a few things I would love to do:

- Build an affordable almost dumb phone w. only basic messaging and authenticator functionality. I think the world could do with something that doesn't eat our attention all the time. Terrible business idea though.

- Affordable cooking assistance/robot. I think we needs to get away from meal deliveries for a more sustainable future and it would improve food quality. (Restaurant food around here is not great, especially if you can't consume milk and onions.) I started learning to cook, but there are days that are too hectic to do it. Robots for this exist, but they are clunky and require specialized installation. It's a long shot though.

- Optimized deliveries for the last 500 meters. Delivery trucks often drive around the block producing CO2 for no good reason. I feel like there should be a sidewalk robotic solution that could work out if a truck parked somewhere. Lots of problems to solve here, especially when it comes to tall buildings w. stairs and lifts.

Reflecting on the education part of your post: that's not solvable by technology. School is just as much of a socialization instrument as it is educational. Observing an almost tenager, kids could learn a lot faster if they were allowed to progress at their own pace, but the logistics seem impossibly hard. My wife and I tried to help out in the local school in digital education and we could easily do with double the amount of teachers and classrooms we have. An app can't replace a teacher, and it's not for the lack of trying.

If you really want to make a difference, learn about capability based security, why it's different than "permission flags" you find in smartphones and "apps", and push for wider adoption of the most basic of all computer security.

Do you not think that code is involved decreasing the cost of food production? We have tractors managing fields relatively autonomously, for instance.

You're making my point.