The importance of stupidity in scientific research

« Productive stupidity means being ignorant by choice. Focusing
on important questions puts us in the awkward position of being
ignorant. One of the beautiful things about science is that it allows
us to bumble along, getting it wrong time after time, and feel
perfectly fine as long as we learn something each time. No doubt,
this can be difficult for students who are accustomed to getting the
answers right. No doubt, reasonable levels of confidence and
emotional resilience help, but I think scientific education might do
more to ease what is a very big transition: from learning what other
people once discovered to making your own discoveries. The more
comfortable we become with being stupid, the deeper we will
wade into the unknown and the more likely we are to make big
discoveries. »

Schwartz, MA. The importance of stupidity in scientific research. (2008) J Cell Sci 121, p. 1771.
Sublinhado meu.