The investment only started paying real dividends in terms of generalized quality of life in the 2010s.
You want to say it was 35 years and not 40? Fine. If you are a guy who was in his 50/60 back in the 1970s then 40-35-30 or even if I give you 20 years if you consider that the investment totally repaid itself when the early adopters started buying GPS (which is a very bad way to calculate it )....it's all the same. You didn't see improvements in your quality of life because given life expectancy back then chances are you'd not be having a life at all (and this includes when the very early adopters bought it)
Right. If this is so crystal clear then you'd not have any problems finding people who'd put up their own money instead of extorting them.
Crystal clear + you'd have to convince a bunch 90 year olds it should not be too hard...then everybody is happy. Even scammers have the decency to convince old people to give them their money as opposed to extorting them under the threat of violence .
For sure when I am 90 I'd do everything in my power to avoid being sucked into paying for stuff that I'll never get to see or use. Old people are not jailed for tax evasion, even today...so I guess unless something changes if I get to that ripe age it would be the same.