This is a good question. In financial models, one common approach is the "noise trader" theory where some people make random trades. These are the people who lose out to the informed traders.
As to not creating wealth, it is possible that HFT adds value by seeing where the market is going (slowly) and putting the price there right now. Also, it may be able to extract more information from the truly informed traders, so that the market as able to have more information given less informed traders.
That said, I doubt HFT adds much positive value, but as the rules of the game evolve, ultimately the will favor people who add value.
As to not creating wealth, it is possible that HFT adds value by seeing where the market is going (slowly) and putting the price there right now. Also, it may be able to extract more information from the truly informed traders, so that the market as able to have more information given less informed traders.
That said, I doubt HFT adds much positive value, but as the rules of the game evolve, ultimately the will favor people who add value.