[jamesrcole]

> there are other opportunities some of them with more definite benefits

I dispute the implication of this -- that there is less certain benefit from fundamental research. There's clear historical evidence that fundamental research has massive societal benefits. We wouldn't have our modern society without it.

It's just that it can only be understood in "statistical terms". If you place bets on fundamental research then in the long term you get big payoffs. It's a bit like investing in the stock market. You can't predict the pay-off for any one particular bit of fundamental research, and its actual pay-off usually isn't obvious in the short-medium term.

From the other direction, there's a lot of claimed definite benefits to more applied work that doesn't actually pan out. Just because it's easier to claim that there's some particular benefit to doing something doesn't mean that benefit actually exists.