[beyondcompute]

I would not necessarily call it “pointless” as in “totally pointless”. The benefits could be: 1) “Trickling down” of new technologies. Development of new production and operation methods that could be used elsewhere. 2) New jobs, taxes, etc. Again there are “schools of thought” (or rather ideological movements) that dislike the idea of economic growth and ignore its positive impact on people’s standards of living. (Agains it’s not an excuse for unsustainability, of course). 3) As applied to transportation, direct increase of productivity (e.g., you are happier because you were able to visit your friends over a weekend). 4) (Probably one of the underrated aspects). Inspiration. More people would go on to become engineers, scientists, etc. Less people will become disappointed in civilization, technological progress and join weird political and ideological movements, etc.