I think it's kinda disingenuous to look at people of the past like that. I expect the exact same curiosity for the unknown and intelligence that allowed Isaac Newton to crack calculus was also the driver for him entering alchemy. The only difference looking back is that one was correct and the other wasn't. Something that no one knew for sure at the time. It's like looking back to the stone age and laughing at the cave men "look how stupid they were why don't they just do X".