https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/science-environment-52790778 Why is mankind spending billions on space when we cannot control what happens on earth?
A lot of research that has provided arguable "benefits" for the human race is founded on seemingly useless experimentation and investigation. Can you imagine what people said about William Gilbert, Benjamin Franklin, Alessandro Volta, Michael Farraday et al? "Stop playing with your toys and work out exactly how much food a horse needs to eat in order to pull a plough 24 furlongs!!
Bang on! I refuse to buy coated pans, but they are so mainstream that a decent enamelled castiron is getting harder to find! I have a 10” Waterford frying pan from my parents wedding in 1962 that gets thrashed at our place. We clean it with sausages!