A very quick but enlightening conversation with Charles Hunter that’s given me some exciting angles to take in my research. Thank you Charles and the guys from Mudlark who contributed to the conversation.
Here are the short idea-form notes from our conversation:
What relationship is there between chaos theory and serendipity?
Chaos theory as applied to the example of a cup of coffee with sugar in it.
Openness to serendipity enables serendipity
There is a mindset required to enable serendipity to occur, without it it will not.
Bandwidth of the brain
There is only a certain amount of information or opportunity that the human brain can handle without feeling overwhelmed. Could there be some kind of tool to enable us to ‘compress serendipity’? A toolbox for randomness?
Opportunity cost
In any situation where serendipity can occur, there will be an associated opportunity cost for following something that may be a dead end in search of something that may or may not occur. This is a dampening factor on serendipity occurring – opportunties are closed down by other factors.
Cognitive load
If cognitive load is too high (you are too busy, too much information is coming to you) then this is also a dampening factor on the mindset required for serendipity to occur.
Selective awareness
If you are looking for something you will see it everywhere – is serendipity just an effect of this? Pattern recognition based on what you already have on your mind? The ‘isn’t that weird’ factor. My thoughts on this is that there is a blurred line between serendipity and coincidentality that needs to be sharpened to make the distinction between the results of random events and the occurence of those events.
Missing jigsaw-pieces
It is incredibly rare that something comes along fully-formed, anything usually must fit into something else to come to fruition.
Charles on Serendipity
A very quick but enlightening conversation with Charles Hunter that’s given me some exciting angles to take in my research. Thank you Charles and the guys from Mudlark who contributed to the conversation.
Here are the short idea-form notes from our conversation:
What relationship is there between chaos theory and serendipity?
Chaos theory as applied to the example of a cup of coffee with sugar in it.
Openness to serendipity enables serendipity
There is a mindset required to enable serendipity to occur, without it it will not.
Bandwidth of the brain
There is only a certain amount of information or opportunity that the human brain can handle without feeling overwhelmed. Could there be some kind of tool to enable us to ‘compress serendipity’? A toolbox for randomness?
Opportunity cost
In any situation where serendipity can occur, there will be an associated opportunity cost for following something that may be a dead end in search of something that may or may not occur. This is a dampening factor on serendipity occurring – opportunties are closed down by other factors.
Cognitive load
If cognitive load is too high (you are too busy, too much information is coming to you) then this is also a dampening factor on the mindset required for serendipity to occur.
Selective awareness
If you are looking for something you will see it everywhere – is serendipity just an effect of this? Pattern recognition based on what you already have on your mind? The ‘isn’t that weird’ factor. My thoughts on this is that there is a blurred line between serendipity and coincidentality that needs to be sharpened to make the distinction between the results of random events and the occurence of those events.
Missing jigsaw-pieces
It is incredibly rare that something comes along fully-formed, anything usually must fit into something else to come to fruition.
Tags: serendipity, interview, charles, charleshunter, hunter, cognitive load, opportunit cost, openness, chaos theory