>>941116169 (OP)
Well yes and no, define matters and quantify it. People die every day and their life's work may never see the light of day, but did the time that person spent doing it matter to them? You could argue that that life's work could be life saving medicine, but what if it's just fantasy drawings of a world he made up? In either case it certainly mattered to both individuals, you only perceive the former to be worth more because it could have value to you.
Now consider this. Lets say we get hit by a massive solar wave, all society collapses and billions starve because we make and distribute all our food using technology thats now bricked. Would everything that happened your entire life up until this point not matter? And what about your currently dead grandparents or great grandparents who chose to do stuff like accumulate generational wealth or move to a better place to raise your parents? Did their lives, careers, and passions not matter because something they have no control over wiped out the fruits of their labor years after they're dead?