Mod-80 you are right. And to be honest many particle physics types hope that we Don’t find the Higgs, because if we don’t find it that means that some of what we think about particle physics is wrong, and of course if you are the one who figures out what you get a Noble prize. No one assumes that the standard model is right, it is constantly being tested at CERN and FermiLab. Our assumptions about dark matter and dark energy are also being tested by various large telescopes both on the ground and in space.
In many cases the motivation for building the next generation of accelerator or telescope is that we think that it will allow us to observe whatever the next big thing is (Dark energy or the like) Of course we generally find lots of other stuff along the way.