I’m not sure these uses would have been clear to Kepler.
Celestial navigation long predated Kepler, and he was far from ignorant, so it’s pretty unlikely he was unaware. Though it’s true he probably would’ve argued that his astronomical learning was more useful for casting horoscopes and pursuing his Platonist theology.
Also what about the scientists doing research on the LHC?
You’re changing the topic. Just because you picked an awful example—one of the very few areas in astronomy which really does have immediate cash payoffs—doesn’t oblige me to defend every physics project or paper ever. I’m not sure the LHC is a good use of money either, since it didn’t find an anomaly which could trigger new theoretical insight and discoveries, but just what was predicted.
I suspect the LHC was a mistake too, but that’s not clear just from the fact that it hasn’t revolutionized physics. We’d also have to correct for hindsight bias, and show that a Higgs-only outcome was too likely in advance to make the high-value alternative possibilities worth pursuing.
ETA: For instance, I believe I recall one physicist assigning probability ~.5 to ‘we only discover the higgs’ and ~.5 to ‘we discover the higgs plus new physics’ in advance. If the probability were anywhere near that high, it would likely be very easy to justify the LHC.
Celestial navigation long predated Kepler, and he was far from ignorant, so it’s pretty unlikely he was unaware. Though it’s true he probably would’ve argued that his astronomical learning was more useful for casting horoscopes and pursuing his Platonist theology.
You’re changing the topic. Just because you picked an awful example—one of the very few areas in astronomy which really does have immediate cash payoffs—doesn’t oblige me to defend every physics project or paper ever. I’m not sure the LHC is a good use of money either, since it didn’t find an anomaly which could trigger new theoretical insight and discoveries, but just what was predicted.
I suspect the LHC was a mistake too, but that’s not clear just from the fact that it hasn’t revolutionized physics. We’d also have to correct for hindsight bias, and show that a Higgs-only outcome was too likely in advance to make the high-value alternative possibilities worth pursuing.
ETA: For instance, I believe I recall one physicist assigning probability ~.5 to ‘we only discover the higgs’ and ~.5 to ‘we discover the higgs plus new physics’ in advance. If the probability were anywhere near that high, it would likely be very easy to justify the LHC.