It's probably a mix of a lot of effects, but if memory serves me right, in management science its a bit of a non-result that local maxima in decision making/sea

It's probably a mix of a lot of effects, but if memory serves me right, in management science its a bit of a non-result that local maxima in decision making/search space is a real thing, so TRULY diversifying a group of people looking at a problem can kinda bump you out of that. This explains why sometimes a complete novice can meaningfully contribute in ways like this -- you haven't been taught/trained/inculcated that "this will never work," and are also probably more willing because of it to try outlandish/left-field things that maybe an established person may not. One interesting thing to think about in the context of this is the way we approve budgets for basic research, which often is hostile to this very sort of contribution. If you are applying from grants from NIH, for instance, the surest way to succeed is to do things or make it look like things that are the sorts of things that NIH funds to begin with, which is a bit of a paradox if the whole reason you are funding this stuff in the first place is to try to nudge along some breakthrough in a traditionally intractable domain where many people have taken a stab at it.