Lambda the Ultimate

There's a conflict between doing research and creating usable programming languages, and different people have different interests.
However, some LtU regulars seem to believe (some variation of) PL research is somehow pointless. (I won't try to offer an exact summary, it's too hard, so this might well be a strawman).

Instead of discussing this inside other topic, it seems this topic deserves its own thread, because the question is interesting. I'm not sure there's something new to say on the topic — this is an old discussion. And I guess that some of us will still not be personally interested in research. But I'd like to not hear the wrong arguments against research. I don't want to hear that research will never be useful in practice. I'm fine with hearing, say, that if you want something now, theoretical research is often not what you should look into — theoretical researchers figure out what you should use in a few years or decades.

I'll reserve my actual answers for the thread.