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I'm glad that you conceded that this "may" be useful after the first comment that sounded simply upset (which surprised me from my memory of your posting history). I have given lectures to people for many years in which I trace the results of what I consider the first particle accelerator experiment, the Rutherford-Geiger-Marsden experiment with gold foil, through the experimental science and theoretical thought that experiment generated, to show people how the computer revolution was dependent on that particle experiment! Theoretical and applied physicists, taxpayers and schoolteachers, have listened to this and said, you know I never thought of it that way, but you are right.

Of course, then, the next question I ask them is, "could you have predicted that throwing particles at gold foil could teach us how to change the world in this way?" Obviously, no. We do not have any idea how BASIC RESEARCH like this Top Quark research can create future discoveries and thought. It may be minimal, but history has given us to realize that the outcome could extend far beyond our strangest dreams!