I love fools’ experiments. I am always making them.
— Charles Darwin
CREATIVITY
— Charles Darwin
CREATIVITY
Calling an experiment foolish usually means nobody expects it to work, which is exactly why it has not been tried. Most of what you learn comes from attempts that a sensible person would have skipped. The cost of a small silly test is low, and the information is often unavailable any other way. Taking your own ideas seriously enough to test them is different from being sure they are right.
Run one cheap, slightly ridiculous test on something you have been theorizing about. Keep it small enough that failing is boring rather than expensive. Then let the result, not your prediction, decide what happens next.
Which pointless-seeming experiment would you run just to see?
Free, with nothing to buy inside it.