The next CEO of Australia’s leading research agency, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), is in hot water after suggesting the cash-strapped organization spend scarce research dollars investigating water divining, or dowsing.

“I’ve seen people do this with close to 80% accuracy, and I’ve no idea how they do it,” Larry Marshall told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) in a recent radio interview. “When I see that, as a scientist, it makes me question, ‘Is there instrumentality that we could create that would enable a machine to find that water?’ … I’ve always wondered whether there is something in the electromagnetic field, or gravitational anomaly,” continued Marshall, who takes up his position in January. (1)

It seems stupid.
It may even be stupid.

But all great advances came from people who attempted to do things which seemed stupid. All great breakthroughs in science came from people who proposed “stupid” new theories.

The existing theories and status quo make everything new seem stupid.
Should we judge the future by the standards of the past?

Empty your mind.
Try to be stupid,
so as to be clever…