Not my opinion - I saw a compelling video of some prof on reddit a few years ago. His argument went something like this: name the richest businessman from the time of Columbus/ Amerigo. Or a very powerful politician/ socialite? Progress is a derivative of us pursuing the unknown. That is why we do what we do.

Disclaimer: I've lost a lot of the language behind the original argument, but as a sceptic it did make a lot of sense to me at that time. And hopefully the meaning behind the original message has not been lost due to my bad phrasing.