damn man, the minute I say something that goes a little ‘off station’, you boys get all hot under the collar and have a go.
Da Vinci invented the helicopter, but it didn’t make him any money. TBE invented the WWW, and it was a not for profit idea.
I have nothing against inventing to make money, indeed its crucial. But the best invention, and the ones that the rest are derived from, come from scientific rigour and the desire the understand something that is unknown, not, to make a quid or two.
It's a simple thing for your category of "best inventions" to meet your standard of altruism, isn't it? It seems almost to imply that getting on your "best inventions" list requires a non-capitalist motive. :-)
DaVinci didn't invent the helicopter. He drew a helicopter-ish concept based on a Chinese toy which was around for 100 years before him. And the one we can fly in today doesn't use the principles DaVinci drew.
Profit motive is only one motive among many possible motives encouraging invention. It just so happens that it's also much more universal among mankind than is altruistic scientific curiosity.
I'd say that neither necessarily produces the "best inventions", but that each has stood on the another's shoulders from time to time, resulting in better stuff for everyone.