In a perfect world we could afford to have lots of basic research institutions that dream wild dreams 100% of the time. In the current context tho maybe it’s not crazy to ask for 10-20% of time/cost to be applied. That’s not the same as suggesting merch or a bake sale, especially if there’s a route to more sustainable self funding, which idea I would think is appealing to any scientific institution that’s beholden to a political one.
Besides, we have lots of urgent problems. Pure basic research is always going to be good/necessary, but whether it seems mostly noble or mostly ridiculous depends on whether the house is burning.
I'd say that a staggering amount of work at Fermilab is already applied and/or engineering. That's a compliment. Theorists get the PR but building and running those enormous experiments is no joke.
