I think that George Lucas' 'Star Wars' films are fantastic. What he's done, which I admire, is he has taken al... — Peter Jackson

I think that George Lucas' 'Star Wars' films are fantastic. What he's done, which I admire, is he has taken all the money and profit from those films and poured it into developing digital sound and surround sound, which we are using today.

Author: Peter Jackson

Insight: What Peter Jackson notices here is something we often miss: the difference between hoarding success and reinvesting it. Lucas took the enormous profits from Star Wars and essentially bet them on technology that didn't exist yet, rather than just enjoying the windfall. That's a peculiar kind of ambition—not about making more movies or becoming richer, but about pushing the entire medium forward. This matters because we live in a culture that celebrates personal wealth accumulation above almost everything else. We're fascinated by the net worth of billionaires, not by what they decide to pour back into R&D or infrastructure. Yet the tools we take for granted now—better sound design, sharper projection, more immersive viewing—often came from someone willing to treat profit as fuel rather than destination. The practical insight is quieter but just as real: the people who shape their fields aren't always the ones who maximize personal gain. They're the ones who reinvest their credibility and resources into making the thing itself better, even when nobody's forcing them to. It's a reminder that legacy isn't built by accumulation. It's built by asking what the next person will need and deciding your success is worth betting on that.