Not so relevant to this discussion, since if you are funded by patronage networks, you need to justify your work to your patron. If you are funded by grants or public research funds, you need to justify your work to the general public.
Assuming this is true, how did they justify their work, which had, at the time, no practical application?
So... network effects... same way most people get jobs, these days.
Art got patrons, too - what practical use is it?
I'm another part of the general public, and I accept their justification.
We can all vote, or use whatever levers our political system gives us to show our acceptance/rejection of basic research, but IMO basic research is absolutely necessary.