That's an equally bogus argument. "Mankind" isn't a singular entity with a unified will. Some people spending their mental capacity on adtech has nothing whatso

That's an equally bogus argument. "Mankind" isn't a singular entity with a unified will. Some people spending their mental capacity on adtech has nothing whatsoever with other people deciding to spend theirs on SETI (or not), and there's nothing wrong with people deciding to do adtech.