I wasn't aware of a right to recoup the costs of any bad idea, which seems to be what you're implying here. Because computers, therefore profit? Huh?

The earlier comment was "vast work", so the size of effort is somehow relevant to the discussion.

It isn't. If a serial killer spent a week digging mass graves by hand, they don't get years taken off their sentence. You don't get points just for working hard or spending money, particularly when it cheapens or just appropriates other people's work.