I've thought about similar things, having just started my studies in a new field. You did with a great deal more thought and finesse than me in my head though. Thanks!
I try not to dwell on this too much as it obviously does not help and only brings me down, but I do kind of regret my first career choice. It provided me with a very secure and very well paid job in respected field, and should keep me financially secure and easily employed even if things don't work out well in this new endeavour. However I find very little passion and interest there. Luckily I'm pretty young still so I have a full career ahead of me, but still I wish I had the foresight to pick something else back then. Even if I would still end up changing the fields, I could've picked something that fits better together with what I'm doing now. Sure, I could combine the old and new and actually I think they would be an useful combination. I just have no interest to do that. Oh well, that's life for you.
I agree pretty much with everything you said, and most of this stuff applied to me at some point in my life.
In high school and for years afterwards I was really big on powerlifting. I had a friend who I trained with, and this guy was very very hard on himself. He always seemed to push himself 100% and beyond. I was by nature more lenient to myself, but the idea of trying and going really hard got stuck to me. I did get pretty strong, sure. But also at some point I started dreading the gym. But I was afraid to quit, because I didn't want to lose my gains. I also became much more concerned with food than I used to be, and had strict rule that I could eat snacks only once per week.
At some point I started therapy for other issues, and along the way realized that I was clinging to gym and pushing myself for really no benefit at all, actually to my own detriment. I quit the gym, allowed my self to snack, and picked up a new hobby I liked. None of my fears came true. I lost a lot of weight of which pretty much all was fat, so I was feeling great. I loved my new hobby (alhouthg I brought with me the need to push myself) and felt better emotionally too. Eventually I l relaxed with the new hobby too. Now I wonder why I was doing all that forcing before? I'm feeling so much better all around after letting go of that must do mentality. I do still push myself, and sometimes find myself thinking I'm not doing enough, but I'm more aware of it.
Back in the day I would've agreed and thought that indeed the last paragraph was prime example of political speech with nothing inside it. After recent years in politics, I wouldn't be suprised to see leaders in certain countries make a very different speech about AI. So perhaps it is indeed useful to have these kinds of speeches, just to signal that there is still reason in this world.