I didn’t read the OP that way (but no point in arguing about the author’s intentions).
For sure, I, like anyone, am perfectly capable of getting curious about, and then spending lots of time to figure out, something that’s not actually important to figure out in the first place. Note the quote that I chose to put at the top of my recent research agenda update post. :)
I think the concern is less “am I making intellectual progress on some project” and more “is the project real / valuable”
I didn’t read the OP that way (but no point in arguing about the author’s intentions).
For sure, I, like anyone, am perfectly capable of getting curious about, and then spending lots of time to figure out, something that’s not actually important to figure out in the first place. Note the quote that I chose to put at the top of my recent research agenda update post. :)