Accidentally on Purpose

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Accidentally on Purpose

June 23, 2010. By Peter Lloyd

Inventors, artists, scientists, and other creative people often set out to do one thing or to solve one problem only to end up solving or discovering the unexpected. The famous example of Christopher Columbus setting out to find a westward route to the Far East only to stumble upon the New World still reigns as the most striking, I think, even if it has become a cliché.

Not as well know is the idea that Columbus planned his trip on an inaccurate estimate of the Earth's circumference. That error helped to perpetuate his mistaken conclusion. Most accidents and errors, however, fail to deliver such significant rewards. But that's no reason to avoid them.

Serendipity: Accidental Discoveries in Science by Royston M. Roberts (the amazon.com page suggests several more such books) not only details several dozen accidents that delivered rewards, its appendix leads you to a host of similar works. Unfortunately books can't keep up with the continuing news of accidental rewards. So here are three examples from more recent news.

Parkinson's drug offers insight into helping cocaine users kick habit explains how the search for a cure for Parkinson's Disease might have accidentally led the way to help for some drug addicts.

In tests, some drug users were able to perform as well as non-users in tests peppered with drug-related distractions. In addition, the researchers may have learned something about predicting how drug users will respond to certain drug treatments.

Okay, that was a bit predictable—drug testing yields more information about drugs than expected. How about this, then: Inventor Turned Up Energy Savings by Dimming the Lights? That's right, Joel Spira set out to make his digs more seductive. Now at 83, the inventor of the solid-state dimmer switch admits he was inspired by Lust. (Forgive me if I stretched that a bit, Joel.)

His invention—let's not forget that he was aiming to invent babe bait—now graces the story of electricity display in the Smithsonian Institution. That's sweet, but better for his bottom line, the New York Times building, the Statue of Liberty, and the Bank of China all feature his lighting-control systems. Seducers, all three.

Finally, it looks as if Mistakes Can Explain 'Cooperative' Behavior. Hampered by mistaken assumptions, people playing cooperation games in a test setting fail to use strategies that will benefit them. The bigger discovery may lie in what this means to evolutionary theory. It may help explain how altruistic behavior evolved in humans and other animals. That's huge.

As long as we go after solutions we win. We may not win what we expect, but as long as the purpose of discovery drives us, we will discover.

Peter Lloyd is co-creator with Stephen Grossman of Animal Crackers, the breakthrough problem-solving tool designed to crack your toughest problems.

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