If people are very bad at making long term decisions, then how would a government (made of people) somehow mitigate this? Governments also have demonstrated their fundamental inability to outperform in making long-term decisions.
“People are bad, therefore let’s throw organizations of even more people at the problem” doesn’t even pass the laugh test.
In fact, not only does this “solution” not solve the problem, it creates a whole host of new ones: corruption, graft, human rights abuses, and perpetuation of the status quo due to codification.
Most people are bad at making long-term decisions. Some are not. Biases can be overcome with sustained training and dedication.
Using taxes to fund basic research is one of many ways our institutions have a countervailing effect towards long-term thinking. In fact we should be taxing much more and doing much, much more of it.
This is explicitly anti-majoritarian, yes.
Corruption is indeed a potential issue, and we should focus on ways to e.g. root out peer review rings. But the numbers we're talking about are tiny.
“People are bad, therefore let’s throw organizations of even more people at the problem” doesn’t even pass the laugh test.
In fact, not only does this “solution” not solve the problem, it creates a whole host of new ones: corruption, graft, human rights abuses, and perpetuation of the status quo due to codification.