Lots of posts in here with the usual complaints about how this is an immoral waste of money on a toy for rich people, but does the amount of money that went int

Lots of posts in here with the usual complaints about how this is an immoral waste of money on a toy for rich people, but does the amount of money that went into this project even come close in order of magnitude to the cash consumed by the Las Vegas casino business, or golf courses, or exclusive Trump brand resorts? Unlike those examples, this project at least funds a lot of research and engineering that surely will have some other applications down the line, and moreover is clearly inspirational (and therefore may result in a larger number of engineers and scientists in future generations, some of whom surely will work on artificial kidneys and whatever other ethically valuable projects you'd think of as well). I really wish our civilisation would stop holding novel undertakings to uniquely rigorous (ethical, safety...) standards than it never seems to apply to its established habits.