…the accumulated wealth of science and literature, and the blessing of peace, often derive from efforts whose ultimate value isnt immediately obvious. Even in cases where the real importance of some breakthrough is clear, it still might take years before the work yields any economic benefit; or, especially in literature, there may never be any conventional economic benefit at all. People who work toward increasing this special kind of wealth are devoting their careers to extremely long-term investments in the improvement of life for humanity as a whole. And what hardheaded businessperson or consumer will pay for that?
Yet history teaches us that such devotion to the long-term, and to the common good, pays off. The basic science of today becomes the technology of the future; the challenging literature of today provides the classics of the future; the difficult statecraft of today ensures the peace and prosperity of the future.
Of course, this excerpt is even better when read inside Frank’s amusing and touching after-dinnner talk at last night’s Nobel birthday dinner in NYC.