I work at Optimism and leading a defi research project. I’m at the point where I have gotten existential and wonder to myself, wtf are we building. 

Zooming out, what is the point of defi? Do we need half of these applications that offer only slight modifications to base primitives?

Strong feelings only.

Eternal optimist.
defi partnerships @optimism

The point of Defi is to provide access to a trusted permissionless financial system, hopefully with a very low to no barrier to entry. Humans need Defi and a selection of protocols offering similar services but w/varying UX is OK for now.
This may help onboard different users, who will find their groove over time.