Originally Posted by MaxQ

There are ramifications from everything ever done. Or for that matter, what isn't done as well. The world we live in was shaped by decisions/policies etc that go back forever.

Ok, that's a nice vanilla thought. It might give the idea that I'm saying "whatever" to your comment.
Far from it.
While yes, whatever we do will affect the "eventual impact", some things will cause more harm than others. Humans, particularly we from Western cultures, absolutely suck at appreciating the consequences of long gestation periods.

The USA had built the premier science and technology research institutions in the world. China now produces more scientific papers than the USA.
Rather than attempt to reestablish America's scientific competiveness, we choose to invest in finance and crypto.

To make matters worse, there has been an ideological assault on academia and expertise in general. There has also been an underground war on critical thinking. This has emerged as a gradual, steady critique of anything in higher education that doesn't produce "practical" results. This ranges from the humanities to pure science.
It is not a coincidence that our elected leaders regularly display a profound ignorance of history, cultures, basic science, and overall general knowledge.

The defunding, the censorship, the destruction of people's careers who choose not to obey, will accelerate the demise of what has been the driver of innovative thought in this country.
Unfortunately we are unlikely to understand what will have happened. It will be considered just normal. We will decry how we are no longer the leading nation in intellectual thought, but with essentially zero understanding of how it came to be.

The "eventual impact" will be immeasurably great, and it will last for generations