Neither telescopes, nor cathedrals, nor opera houses have much practical use. The dependable enemy of large structures is gravity. Daily newspapers do not need to carry gravity reports. The shifty, but more dangerous foe of these structures is wind. There are no gargoyles or stained glass windows in the Gemini dome.
Every detail contributes to the sharp imaging of faint light.
A telescope expresses the curiousity of its builders, their uncertainty and their need for evidence that makes them extend their senses. A telescope helps serious adults answer deeper versions of the same questions groggy children ask when they wake up in the middle of a journey. The Gemini telescopes will create evidence to test our provisional, incomplete, but not completely clueless answers to these deceptively simple questions. Our place in the Universe, its age and fate sound like subjects for legend and myth. And for many centuries they have been.