Let's cut to the chase here and get to the applied part. What do you believe is the next big thing coming out of research like this? A bigger and better bomb? Some form of energy production?
Not complete science fiction stuff, but what you think is actually plausible maybe during your lifetime. I assume this is not a question theoretical physics people like (no offense meant haha).
It's a very legitimate and pertinent question. If you want something very concrete, I will mention that the know-how developed for CERN experiments has led to the development of innovative cancer-treating techniques, especially for children, and new medical imaging devices. So, spin-offs from the crazy physics stuff are saving lives as we speak! ! I might expand this in a future post
...you should definitely expand on this in another post Claudio, because even today there are many people who still don't appreciate the flow from theoretical science => experimental developments => societal benefits.