It’s a bit simplistic to call it stupidity. Long-term planning like this is a skill that’s not strongly supported by default human psychology. We use all kinds

It’s a bit simplistic to call it stupidity. Long-term planning like this is a skill that’s not strongly supported by default human psychology. We use all kinds of tricks and techniques to overcome this, and withholding is one. Similar issues arise with, say, planning for retirement or taking into account the effects of climate change, or exercise and diet. If it were something that came to us naturally, we wouldn’t even be having this discussion. Work by people like Thaler and Sunstein is encouraging because it helps us improve our skills in a systematic manner so it can better scale.