Here is my list of “really stupid, frivolous academic pursuits” that have lead to major scientific breakthroughs.

• Studying monkey social behaviors and eating habits lead to insights into HIV (Radiolab: Patient Zero)
• Research into how algae move toward light paved the way for optogenetics: using light to control brain cells (Nature 2010 Method of the Year).
• Black hole research gave us WiFi (ICRAR award)
• Optometry informs architecture and saved lives on 9/11 (APA Monitor)
• Certain groups HATE SETI, but SETI’s development of cloud-computing service SETI@HOME paved the way for citizen science and recent breakthroughs in protein folding (Popular Science)
• Astronomers provide insights into medical imaging (TEDxBoston: Michell Borkin)
• Basic physics experiments and the Fibonacci sequence help us understand plant growth and neuron development:

What I love about these is that so many started from canonical “wasteful spending” types of “pointless” research: astronomy and black holes, studying algae, SETI, etc.

The ideas spawned from these basic projects could never have been anticipated. We don’t do the research that will lead to the best immediate applications, we do the research that is interesting because it is interesting. The possibility for a breakthrough can’t exist if we stop supporting basic research because it “feels” silly.