All the old men set to their jobs with the grim robotic work ethic that always belongs to the previous generation. - Daniel H. Wilson

Most people are good," says Jim. "But not when they're afraid.

It is a well-established Achilles’ heel of human civilization that individuals are more motivated by immediate private reward than by long-term, collective future benefits. This effect is particularly evident when considering payoffs that will take longer than a generation to arrive—a phenomenon called intragenerational discounting.

It has been subsequently theorized that our species’ seeming inability to focus on long-term existential threats will inexorably lead to the destruction of our environment, overpopulation, and resource exhaustion. It is therefore not an uncommon belief among economists that this inborn deficit represents a sort of built-in timer for the self-destruction of human civilization.
Sadly, all the evidence of world history supports this theory.