> since around 1980 almost all big companies have focused much more on the financial results of the next quarter than on long-term research

Good point. What I described is not some law of nature, but a function of the current long-term fad of American ultracapitalism.

Happily, the signs are that this is all falling apart in an irreversible way. Whatever rises from the ashes might resemble a civilization again, if we're lucky.