I suggest you would get better response by asking not
'why we mine'
but rather
'why should anyone mine'
because personalized answers may conflict with anonymity preferred here.
Seems I only caught half the point you're making here. I thought "you" as opposed to "anyone" (rationalising) is still used in conducting anonymous research. Can you help elaborate?
I do not mine, but I would guesstimate few miners are willing to simply volunteer such info publicly. There are real risks with being vocal about their [perceived] 'wealth'.