I do not consider the search for dark matter a waste of time. But when you are working with a team of WIMP-detector-building specialists, it is (unsurprisingly) hard to have a conversation about whether we should continue building WIMP detectors. People’s egos and emotions are all wrapped up in the science, and that is the part I came away disenchanted about. Definitely don’t misinterpret my feelings to be about science in general, or about getting a negative result (the Michelson-Morley experiment comes to mind.)