I think what is required to even get the change to summit Everest weeds out any people who are just there so they can "pretend they've lived a better life".
I disagree. Most of the time when people do stuff like this, they do it just so they can tell other people that they've done it. They don't do it for the experience, they do it for the bragging rights.
Note, I'm not talking about everyone that does it, just most people.
Not everything is binary. Other people have different motivations than you. Not everyone does an Ironman for bragging rights. Not everyone starts a company for bragging rights.
Reality check: how many people do you know that climbed Everest? When you claim to know why most people do something that you actually have no clue about, you look like an incredibly arrogant douche.