Quite Humorous
Well of course particle colliders are just "Let's see what happens" experiments, but without knowing physics on that small-scaled level or at least having rough data, you cannot conclude how this data might be of use to us. Don't forget that nuclear research has brought us nuclear power, and soon maybe fusion power. (To all of you who think nuclear power is teh bad thing, just compare it to coal and mineral oil. Nuclear power is cleaner (although not totally clean I admit) and safe. Fusion power will even be totally clean.) All this research is based on physicists who were trying to look deeper into the core of matter. Getting knowledge about particles and maybe even Quarks might provide us with possibilites of creating new technology. Of course there's also the atomic bomb, but people will always develop weapons. I'd rather live in a world with cars, supermarkets and computers while people have rockets and guns than in a world with sticks, stones and swords (and the ugly obligation to go hunting every few days). It's not a question of an ideal case, but of that what we can do with the world we're in.