[TeMPOraL]

> Much of the world's most important advancements were made before any practical use could be seen.

In a sense, yes. But usually this was kind of accidental - as in, people making those breakthroughs weren't doing it because they loved manipulating abstract symbols, or believed that someone, somewhen will find it useful; rather, they had some immediate-term reason for doing the work - a problem to solve, a person to impress, or just doing it for shits and giggles - and only later it turned out their work was the key to something transformative.

I have a similar "mental make" as GP too. Over the years I realized that for me, it's not about practical use to me - it's about knowing why something was invented, what problems the inventors were trying to solve. Learning the historical motivation "grounds" the concept for me, and makes it much easier to understand.