No-one can rationally justify their basic values. If you think there’s no inherent value in learning about the universe we live in then I won’t argue with you. Just as you wouldn’t argue with someone who denied that money was valuable.

You’re assuming that modern programmable digital computers would have arrived at the same point in time even if the theoretical foundations from Frege and Babbage onwards had never been laid (and that we would have had just as much success programming them to do what we wanted). Possible, but hardly something that can be assumed. And of course, Church and Turing’s seminal work predates the advent of programmable digital computers, contrary to what you appear to be suggesting.

As for computer science, the US made the biggest investment in it and got the biggest rewards. It doesn’t seem like an example that supports your claim.