Well, inventors did. There are so many single inventions (or discoveries) created by one or two persons, which have created value for hundreds of years and will continue to do so.

Just think about Fritz Haber who (with Carl Bosch) created nitrogen fixation, which completely changed our agricultural landscape. That is actual, real value (=increased food production) we all benefit to this day. Or look at Alexander Fleming, Edison, Tesla, Nobel, etc. this list can go on forever.

Yes, Linus did good on Git and Linux, but I think with RCS/CVS/SVN and Windows/macOS the world would not have lost that much value.