Contemplating timescales that transcend the everyday

Acting long-term—like planting a tree whose shade you will never sit in—strikes me as a subspecies of altruistic behavior, wise action taken with selfless concern for the well-being of others—specifically others in the future. Thinking long-term, on the other hand, feels more like contemplating timescales that transcend the everyday and the human. Such thinking is often occasioned by an encounter with ancient monuments, writings from antiquity, galactic expanses, multigenerational projects, plate tectonics, forest migration, cathedrals, climate change, or bristlecone pine trees.

One of the most interesting articlesarticles I've read for a long time.