Plan the path to your goals so as to reap benefits regularly along the way, not only at the end
Hypothetically one could spend a few decades researching how to make people smarter (or some other long term thing), unlock that tech, and all that is really good.
But what if you plan your path towards that long-term goal such that it is the unlocking of various lesser but useful techs that gets you there?
Well now that’s even better: you get the benefit of reaching the end goal + all the smaller things you accomplished along the way. It gives you some hedge: in case you don’t reach the end goal you still accomplished a lot. And cherry on top: it’s more sustainable as you get motivation (and money?) from unlocking the intermediary tech.
So it looks like it’s worth going out of your way to reap benefits regularly as you journey towards a long term goal.
Plan the path to your goals so as to reap benefits regularly along the way, not only at the end
Hypothetically one could spend a few decades researching how to make people smarter (or some other long term thing), unlock that tech, and all that is really good.
But what if you plan your path towards that long-term goal such that it is the unlocking of various lesser but useful techs that gets you there?
Well now that’s even better: you get the benefit of reaching the end goal + all the smaller things you accomplished along the way. It gives you some hedge: in case you don’t reach the end goal you still accomplished a lot. And cherry on top: it’s more sustainable as you get motivation (and money?) from unlocking the intermediary tech.
So it looks like it’s worth going out of your way to reap benefits regularly as you journey towards a long term goal.