You've got an equivocation [1], three red herrings [2], and one begged question [3].
Equivocation:
You used "we" to mean government ("trillions on wars"), then private citizens ("hundreds of billions on sports..."), then back to government ("a few billion on producing knowledge"). "Our" war spending is certainly not related to "our" watching ESPN.
Red herrings:
War spending, lining corporate pockets, and private entertainment are unrelated to whether -- and to what extent -- fundamental physics should be government-funded. In fact, one may be a peace-loving socialist and still not believe that this research is the best investment for a nation's finite resources.
Begging the question:
You've assumed that research into string theory, multiverse theory, etc. produce knowledge, which is the very question being debated here. Knowledge is generally regarded as justified true belief [4] (albeit with qualifiers [5]). At issue here is whether one's scientific beliefs are adequately justified without empirical support -- i.e., whether we're producing any knowledge at all regarding this issue.
As a disclaimer, I was a researcher at a government lab for 5 years. In many cases, I believe scientific research is worth funding. That said, we should take care to present sound arguments regardless of the topic.
Equivocation:
You used "we" to mean government ("trillions on wars"), then private citizens ("hundreds of billions on sports..."), then back to government ("a few billion on producing knowledge"). "Our" war spending is certainly not related to "our" watching ESPN.
Red herrings:
War spending, lining corporate pockets, and private entertainment are unrelated to whether -- and to what extent -- fundamental physics should be government-funded. In fact, one may be a peace-loving socialist and still not believe that this research is the best investment for a nation's finite resources.
Begging the question:
You've assumed that research into string theory, multiverse theory, etc. produce knowledge, which is the very question being debated here. Knowledge is generally regarded as justified true belief [4] (albeit with qualifiers [5]). At issue here is whether one's scientific beliefs are adequately justified without empirical support -- i.e., whether we're producing any knowledge at all regarding this issue.
As a disclaimer, I was a researcher at a government lab for 5 years. In many cases, I believe scientific research is worth funding. That said, we should take care to present sound arguments regardless of the topic.
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equivocation 2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_herring 3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Begging_the_question 4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belief#Justified_true_belief 5. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/knowledge-analysis/