Proof: your question is asking one to "prove" a subjective standard using "objective, real-world" evidence.
Your query fails, a priori.
No doubt.
I'd still offer this: a given SP builds houses. He installs flooring, he's a roofer, he lays tile, he's a framer, etc. He makes our homes physically sturdy and aesthetically appealing. And he does a great job.
But, ironically, most of the advances in technology that continue to happen - the advances that give us "modern" homes with modern amenities (instead of log cabins) are being conceived in the minds of a dreaming NT or highly educated engineers who believe in an idea, etc, etc. I'm talking about the big advancements in how buildings are constructed, the types of appliances we use, the newer amenities that many of us have in our homes - solar panels, computers, home security systems, low energy appliances, ad finitum. The list is a long one.
Without the NT, these things just don't exist and we're stuck in 1938. The SP installs these things and you'll often hear him moaning, "What genius designed this piece of crap? Obviously someone who has never installed it!" Yet, the NT's continue to create these advances while the SP continues to be the installer of them. Why anyone would bemoan these NT contributions is beyond me.
I say NT's need SP's and SP's need NT's. NT's need SP's to "apply" it, but NT's are the ones thinking of it, testing it, and designing it. Why does one have to be more important or "successful" than the other?