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Play long games

A longer horizon makes some problems solvable and some short-term wins look like what they are.

Our reading of the idea · 6 claims from 5 people, in their own words

Who thinks with this

David Heinemeier HanssonDaniel CookJeff BezosRory SutherlandSam Altman

Long-term thinking is a lever that makes problems solvable which are impossible on a short horizon, and five years is already past most institutions' limit.

  1. Jeff Bezos Founder of Amazon in 1994 and of the space company Blue Origin in 2000 Long-term thinking is a giant lever. You can literally solve problems if you think long-term, that are impossible to solve if you think short-term. And we aren't really good at thinking long-term. Five years is a tough timeframe for most institutions to think past. Jeff Bezos: Amazon and Blue Origin | Lex Fridman Podcast #405youtube.com · 14 Dec 2023 · 2:07:56 into the videoAll korrents from this video
    Long-term thinking is a giant lever. You can literally solve problems if you think long-term, that are impossible to solve if you think short-term. And we aren't really good at thinking long-term. Five years is a tough timeframe for most institutions to think past.

    Watch from 2:07:56 plays here

    ↗Jeff Bezos: Amazon and Blue Origin | Lex Fridman Podcast #405youtube.com

    14 Dec 2023 · video · 2h 11m · spoken · official transcript

Extracting time and money from unhealthy users works in the short run and loses them in the long run.

  1. Daniel Cook Game designer and social-systems designer You may be able to extract time and money from unhealthy players in the short term. But long term, unhealthy players leave extractive services. A design practice for social systemslostgarden.com · 7 Apr 2023All korrents from this piece
    You may be able to extract time and money from unhealthy players in the short term. But long term, unhealthy players leave extractive services.

Publicly traded companies are incentivised to behave like psychopaths, because they are optimised for short-term transactions rather than long-term relationships.

  1. Rory Sutherland Rory Sutherland is vice chairman of Ogilvy UK PLC's or um uh or or companies on the NASDAQ or the New York Stock Exchange are incentivized to behave like psychopaths because they're optimized around short-term transactional value, not long-term relationship building. Marketing Expert: The Playbook Behind Every Great Campaign | Rory Sutherlandyoutube.com · 9 Dec 2025 · 0:28:30 into the videoAll korrents from this video
    PLC's or um uh or or companies on the NASDAQ or the New York Stock Exchange are incentivized to behave like psychopaths because they're optimized around short-term transactional value, not long-term relationship building.

Locking humanity into one model's or one company's moral worldview would buy a little short-term safety and cost a long-term disaster.

  1. Sam Altman Co-founder and CEO of OpenAI I don't think any of us should want to be locked into one one AIS or one person's or one company's moral worldview. Sam Altman: "Never a Better Time to Do a Startup"youtube.com · 28 Jul 2026 · 28:13 into the videoAll korrents from this video
    I don't think any of us should want to be locked into one one AIS or one person's or one company's moral worldview.

    Watch from 28:13 plays here

    ↗Sam Altman: "Never a Better Time to Do a Startup"youtube.com

    28 Jul 2026 · video · 39m · spoken · machine transcript

What is good for humanity at large in the long run may well be temporarily tragic for the individual in the short run.

  1. David Heinemeier Hansson Creator of Ruby on Rails, CTO of 37signals What's good for humanity at large in the long run may well be temporarily tragic for the individual in the short run. Redundancy is the engine of progressworld.hey.com · 7 Oct 2026
    What's good for humanity at large in the long run may well be temporarily tragic for the individual in the short run.

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