The thing is that this delayed gratification is what allowed modern society to appear in the first place. Without delayed gratification you can't have farming or housing. Both of which are vitally important for human survival in most places in the world.
Humans, and probably all life, have a high time preference. We even have sayings about this in the form of "a bird in hand is better than two in the bush." My guess is that this has to do with the future being difficult to predict. It's essentially a balance between how many resources you should use right now vs how much you should invest into the future.
Humans, and probably all life, have a high time preference. We even have sayings about this in the form of "a bird in hand is better than two in the bush." My guess is that this has to do with the future being difficult to predict. It's essentially a balance between how many resources you should use right now vs how much you should invest into the future.