DARPA spending 1.3 million dollars on a fringe theory doesn't seem like that big of a problem; worst-case scenario we learn that it really was a silly idea and

DARPA spending 1.3 million dollars on a fringe theory doesn't seem like that big of a problem; worst-case scenario we learn that it really was a silly idea and move on. Best-case scenario we learn something fundamental about the universe and get a pretty big head start on developing technologies that take advantage of it. In fact, this seems like the type of project that DARPA should be funding. Other research grant-writing agencies are less likely to gamble on something like this, so having DARPA around to occasionally throw a grant at ideas like this seems like a win overall.