The case for mental research

The idea of conducting an economic war of paper is much less expensive than a single court trial.  While the USA battles China in the world court, China undermines the US economy using a militarized economy.  Weaponized can be equated to monetizing.  Both are methods of accelerating an instant result by the allocation of resources.  The Court systems will be rubble or at least bankrupt long before they achieve results against an economic army.
This is true of super collider research facilities.  Until the fundamental research is in place, you don't really know what you are looking for or how to build for it.  A detailed math paper is a pittance compared to the cost of a single mile of buried high powered electromagnets to say nothing of the people who run, maintain them, and examine their results.
The area I live on is the fringe of society.  The outlying nether regions where thinkers have to cling tenaciously to their ideas which fritter away under examination.  They can only be protected by constantly sharpening the tools of the mind on the rough surfaces to smooth them against the constant wear and tear of criticism.
Welcome to the twilight zone of science and history.  It is not like the fictional twilight zone, because it requires intellectual merit and not merely art.  The wild flights of thought are only relevant as long as serve some broader purpose and are supported by the new science they seek to create.  The theories are fictions looking for a fact on which to cling, like someone lonely looking for anyone to hold onto; rather than two people who have decided they are in love and know they mean to be together; at least till the next fact tears them in different directions.
All science is fleeting subject to the next overturned leaf, the next smallest microscopic view, the next better theory, the next step back or forward in time; all history subject to revision, a new interpretation of events, a new tomb uncovered, a new love letter found; and  all love subject to a deeper scrutiny when circumstances change, when age dulls the body and familiarity and age replace passion.
The fringes are the place to be, love burns brightest on the edges, the future and past merge here, science burning on the very edges where oxygen reaches carbon before it cools and crumbles like ash.
Come live with me on the edge of history, creation and love.  There will be plenty of time for ash when we are buried, lonely and apart in our separate, graves; unmarked by time.