[dragonwriter]

I think PG is engaging in a very common form of fallacy, the assumption that everyone agrees with his judgement on an issue (in this case the uselessness of certain avenues of research and endeavor) and thus that their intentions must be viewed by interpreting their actions in light of that ascribed belief, so if they are engaging in the endeavors he finds useless, they must also be doing so through a lack of earnestness.

This is a common way of converting a difference in judgement about the value of particular activities into a characterization of dishonesty and fraudulent activity; when done accidentally it is a sign of lack of ability to recognize differences in viewpoints, when done intentionally it's technique of avoiding debate on the issue on which agreement is assumed through the distraction of casting moral aspersions at those who disagree.