A good data-journalism project would be to keep track of all the investors who were inspired to enter finance by a particular person, divide them into teams based on their inspirations, and see who inspired the best investors. Warren Buffett? George Soros? Jesse Livermore? Michael Lewis? Gordon Gekko? Where do you think Thales falls on that list?
Wall Street "short-termism" is just about who should get to make decisions with capital. If you are bad at investing�capital, investors will keep you on a short leash, and ask for their capital back if you have any to spare so they can put it to better uses. If you are great�at investing�capital, sure, buy a virtual-reality headset company, build driverless cars, shoot rockets to Mars, whatever, go nuts. Long-term corporate investment and deep basic research is possible, but you have to earn it.