Human life is far more important than just getting to the top of a mountain.
It's all bullshit on Everest these days.
I think it all comes down to motivation. If you really want to do something, you will work hard for it.
It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves.
Nobody climbs mountains for scientific reasons. Science is used to raise money for the expeditions, but you really climb for the hell of it.
My most important projects have been the building and maintaining of schools and medical clinics for my dear friends in the Himalaya and helping restore their beautiful monasteries, too.