Excellent point! Commonly told anecdote, lady sees Faraday's inventions and asks "What is it good for", he answers "What good is a newborn baby!" (I just found

Excellent point! Commonly told anecdote, lady sees Faraday's inventions and asks "What is it good for", he answers "What good is a newborn baby!" (I just found out that this didn't exactly happen this way, see http://www.jstor.org/pss/986790 http://www.jstor.org/pss/986790, but you get the point). Some tech advances are pushed by necessity, some just happen (or may be pushed by some other necessity) and create the question or need that they then answer.