If we destroy it today, we get x, but in 20 years, technology may have advanced enough to get x + y. Or learn x without destroying the original. Like the early

If we destroy it today, we get x, but in 20 years, technology may have advanced enough to get x + y. Or learn x without destroying the original. Like the early plunderers of the Egyptian tombs - they got short term benefits, but at what cost?