Experiments needed to confirm "fundamental" physics predictions (eg. large accelerators a la CERN) too costly to be pragmatic, or at least to continue the tradi

Experiments needed to confirm "fundamental" physics predictions (eg. large accelerators a la CERN) too costly to be pragmatic, or at least to continue the tradition of timely theory-experiment interplay. Bear in mind though that the comment was made in the 1980s; people on both sides will debate how prescient he was. Some background and counterpoints in the context of the proposed Chinese super-collider: http://ias.ust.hk/ias/files/pdf/1508403651_b2.pdf http://ias.ust.hk/ias/files/pdf/1508403651_b2.pdf