I wonder what the payback on investment would be if we spent a boatload of dough on a device that could peer say, 100 years into the future?

... amazing discoveries that are a great return on investment
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Society has supported pricey astronomical projects like space telescopes because of the huge payback in knowledge about the universe -- and should continue to do so. Hubble, for instance, has proven itself worth the investment again and again. It has answered questions that weren't even being asked when it was launched, while shedding light on old questions like: how fast is the universe expanding? And how old it is?

You never change things by fighting the existing reality.
To change something, build a new model that makes the old model obsolete.
R. Buckminster Fuller