What makes long-term investing a wonder of the world?

There is a famous mathematical parable called the “Wheat and chessboard problem”. It goes like this: A king, pleased with the invention of the game of chess, offered to reward the inventor. The inventor humbly asked for one grain of wheat on the first square of a chessboard, two on the second, four on the third, and so on, doubling the number of grains for each of the 64 squares.