(no subject)

[timelets]

Here's a great example of long-term thinking:

The Chinese have a legend that a demon once offered to teach an alchemist how to turn base metal into gold. "But will it remain gold?" the alchemist asked.
"Will it not return to its original elements?" "Certainly," replied the demon, "but that need not trouble you, for no such change will take place until ten thousand ages have
passed." The alchemist refused the gift. "I should rather live in poverty," he said, "than bring a loss upon my fellow men, even after ten thousand ages have passed."

--- The world's story; a history of the world in story, song and art, ed. by Eva March Tappan. Published in 1914.
https://archive.org/stream/worldsstoryhisto01tapp/worldsstoryhisto01tapp_djvu.txt