How much government money (from any and all governments involved) was spent to get it and how much will it and any knowledge gained from it directly benefit desperate people?
This question can be applied to ANY form of fundamental research. And the universal answer to it is,
- we don't know about the practical application
- but one day it will be useful, guaranteed.
The discovery of quantum physics was entirely idle in the early 20th century. But it brough us lasers, computers, cell phones, the GPS system, microscopes for the molecular level, the ability to place individual atoms and to build nano machines, it gave the key to understanding genetics, pretty much any kind of precision chemistry, or the design of new pharmaceutics. So, should we have directed the brains of Max Planck and his fellow physicists to rather work on something "directly useful"? Mankind is vastly better off now because we precisely didn't.
Also, who gets to decide who the "desperate people" are, and what kind of research activity will help them most? Because even if you're acting with the best intentions (and I guarantee you, people who get to decide how to spend other people's money will, in the majority of cases,
not decide with "best intentions") you can't know in advance which research activity will yield the biggest benefit because if you already have the answer, it's not "reserarch" but refined application of what's known already.
What good is that newfangled round thing going to do? Grok keeps yapping about his "wheel". I say, it's going to get people killed if they are going to drive around in horse-drawn "wagons" or whatever they call these doodads that they're developing next to Grok's cave. They should better practice their stone throwing skills, gonna help everybody a lot more if they haul in more steaks from hunt, I say. And don't get me started about "fire". If it were god's will that we see at night, he wouldn't make the sun settle!
