[kaens]

Question. Why did we (human beings) spend so many resources and so much effort developing the LHC when it seems obvious that a comparable amount of effort and resources could have dramatically improved our way of life?

That's a complicated question, the stuff of long-winded conversation. I'd say that it boils down to (very overgeneralized here) we didn't, a certain set of people did - who happened to be able to get the funding needed to undertake a pretty amazing thing.

Sometimes I think I just read too much Asimov as a kid, I think that there's a pretty big under-use of technology for the purposes of making everyone's life better. When I think about the reasons for that, my head starts to boggle after a while. I do think that another large reason for the state of things right now is that our ability to do really, really awesome things for humankind has only recently become very apparent.

If you ever open your resturant, I'd recommend using both slogans. "The exact food made by the same machines every day" in fine-print, or something.