It's just a saying I heard a long time ago from one of my professors. He probably meant it in the academic sense, i.e. the person could otherwise use that mental energy to do great research.
Or is there innate value in scientific research, which comes solely from the virtue of being scientific? This approach strikes me as para-religious.
Refutation of the Evans gambit is some sort of knowledge as well. It's even peer reviewed :)
Of course it's not useful, but, for instance, is knowing what god was worshipped by the Khori-Tumed tribe 1200 years ago (fruit of hard and deep historical research work as it might be) more useful?
