I like it (the story).

Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to sell fish and the oceans boil with propellers.

A long time ago, I made up an explanation for civilization along a similar line. The premise was that the reason there are so many people living in CAFOs (concentrated animal feeding operations (cities)) is because an alien race that savors unused brain matter designed us that way and seeded our ancestors on planets all over the galaxy. The competitive cleverness of primates always reaches a point of Peak Uselessness and when ready for brain harvesting, gathers into cities automatically because that's the easiest thing to do, labor-wise.

Any competitive, clever predator with unrestricted brain growth will always end up isolating itself from risks (build walls), then seek the least effort lifestyle until dying of fatheadedness.