I don't understand how you can be so certain that the hypothetical scenarios they imagine can't possibly happen. Even if it really is laughable, we spend a lot of money on laughable research (homeopathy, anyone?), so why is this case so particularly bad?
Not everyone has to agree. That's why we have the scientific method and research institutes. If the current science shows that something is worth exploring in more detail, that some avenues are worth spending money on, spending money on them makes sense.
Bullshit Ideas like AI apocalypse and singularity, transhumanism, downloading brain into a computer do not fit into that criteria.
So how do ideas get to the stage where the 'research institutes' agree they're worth investigating?
It seems to me like you're saying "I don't like these ideas, no one should be working on them". That seems a worse principle then "everyone should work on ideas they find worth investigating".
I also have no idea how you distinguish 'Bullshit Ideas' from non-bullshit ideas without investigating them. Your gut is not that good at distinguishing truth from a blunder.
