are mundane acts of compassion meaningful?

In the suttas, THe usual order of dana, from most beneficial for the person who gives to the least beneficial, is first gives to the buddha, then to what some people call ''solitary buddhas'', then to arhants, then to puthujjanas who want to stop being puthujjanas [those are the typical bhikkus] then to other puthujjanas and other living beings. Of course, what is given matters a bit but not that much, typically, it is usual food, some basic goods for hygiene and that's all for the puthujjanas who want to stop being puthujjanas and the people called ''aryas''.

Yes toxic puthujjanas have faith in materialism and feeling compassionate to appease conflicts. THose puthujjana crave an abundance of goods and what they call ''opportunities'' and what they call ''meanings'' to please themselves and people and they think once puthujjanas are fed, they will be nice to each other. Those toxic puthujjanas love to give materials goods to craving puthujjanas and once they are satisfied with their fantasy of being good puthujjanas by giving material stuff and telling other puthujjanas and themselves that they are good people, they stop here and leave the craving puthujjana with the given good.

To be clear the fantasy of being compassionate as being a good behavior is natural for any puthujjana. It is part of their nature of fantasizing the negation of what they despise has being good. For instance, they love to claim ''that caring for oneself and one's desires all the time is bad, therefore it must mean that trying to cater to other people needs and worrying about other people is good''. Some even claim that dying for other puthujjanas or animals is a good thing... . Those people cannot stop caring about needs, about desires, about senses. Those people cannot think beyond the present suffering.

For instance, a puthujjana wants a blanket to spend the night with warmth and some compassionate puthujjana comes along, hear about this claim ''I know not having a blanket at night sucks, god poor little you, I totally know your plight and I am sadden by your situation'' and gives the other puthujjana a blanket. The other puthujjana accepts the blanket and will delight in it, thinking warmth is good and there is nothing wrong with delighting in this blanket, which pleases the toxic puthujjana who stay at the level of loving to think a beneficial action has been done.

These people even speculate about the ''origin'' of this lack of goods and opportunities and they usually come up with their fantasy of ''lack of money'' and ''lack of respect'' and ''discrimination'' or ''lack of equality''. These people do not understand pleasures nor consciousness nor death.

Of course, once you learn about the dhamma, you learn that this caring about ''needs'' is the recipe for bad karma, for being more obsessed with goods, for more suffering and even more dramatically, trying to satisfy the desires of puthujjanas is not the way to stop their suffering.

The little quoted rant about scientists is not relevant to this and it is badly phrased, so there is nothing wrong about forgetting it.

Yes the mundane acts are good as pointed out by other answers, but you took a narrow view of the Tulkus following words,

Honestly, whatever mundane, unspiritual actions we do show themselves to be a total waste at the end of this life. They are good for absolutely nothing. Any work that one bothers to complete is pointless unless it is connected with a virtuous outcome.

Here, he is pointing at something much profound than a trivial intrepretation that mundane acts are unimportant.

The good deeds leads good karma, that good karma leads to a better life...and so the cycle of samsara prepetuates. You have been doing such useless mundane acts lives after lives...with no avail.

Contemplate on the story of Bodhidharma and the Emperor. When the Emperor asked Him, does his act of generousity produce any merit, Bodhidharma said 'Mu' and left the palace.

So I will say the Tulku is right, and I will disagree with the above answers and say those mundane acts are not meaningful, given that you are considering the bigger context of Nibbana and Human suffering.

I'm also thinking of dana. It's the first of the parami (10 perfections). You could check these sources: https://www.accesstoinsight.org/index-subject.html#dana

One thing that I experience when practicing parami, what I can notice, is that the inclination of the mind changes towards the wholesome. So, mundane acts of generosity might not help out the receiver a lot in the sense that this generosity will not get rid of this persons suffering permanently. But it will help a bit, for a moment. Plus the mind of the giver is aligned towards the wholesome. Therefore I do think it counts for something.

Also, it will increase your happiness. That, in turn, will lead to concentration and more stillness in the mind.

Note: This is from Theravada point of view and practice.

Are mundane acts of compassion meaningful?

They certainly are. All actions based in the 3 wholesome roots are of great value. They will lay the foundational work (Sila) for meditation practice and move the practitioner closer to Nibbana.

The 10 Paramis (Dāna pāramī), are often described as "bowls" that are filled with one droplet a time. It may take a long time to fill the bowl but small droplets will eventually create a river.

Acts of compassion/generosity will slowly fill the bowl. One droplet a time, until one has perfected the Parami.