@grimalkina @luis_in_brief I do not disagree, but I also think that this is only the visible part of the iceberg.
A frigton of opensource, by far the vast majority of it, is a person doing this a couple hours a month in the middle of nowhere, with a really niche skillset.
And in this situation, it is not "saintly appointed few", it is whoever had enough free time and mental space and privilege and interest in a really "hobbyistic" thing that end up the few.
@grimalkina @luis_in_brief and then that model is reused in vastly different situations, and we get into what you really well describes.