Serendipity

Serendipity requires a certain state of mind to occur. For example, in The Travels and Adventures of Serendipity, the only reason the three princes were able to have an educated guess of the whereabouts of the man’s missing camel was, was because they were observant. An unobservant person wouldn’t have any idea that a camel was walking on the road with a missing tooth, spilling honey and butter while carrying a pregnant woman. Even for the classic example of the apple falling on Newton’s head, Newton had to be observant and curious to why wonder why the apple fell. Most people probably would have just thought about the pain the apple caused them, not why the apple caused the pain. Curiosity is another aspect one has to have in order for serendipity to occur. Observance and curiously go hand in hand in discovering things by serendipity. Observant people are usually curious, and curious people are usually observant. While serendipity may occur by chance or accident to someone, that someone requires both keen observation of curiosity.

I once was had a serendipitous experience of no significance, but it was still interesting. I was in downtown Houston, Texas when I stepped outside of a restaurant around 1:00 P.M. Something didn’t seem quite right. The sun didn’t feel as warm or seem as bright as I thought it should have felt. I looked down on the sidewalk where sunshine appeared to be shining. It looked like the sun was shining on the sidewalk, but not at full power, and it was a completely clear sky so no clouds were partially blocking the sun. This observation led me to be curious to why this was happening. I looked up to immediately noticed that the actual sunlight was being completely blocked by a skyscraper, but the sun was reflecting off another skyscraper like a mirror to the ground I was looking at so that it almost seemed as if real sunlight was shining down on the street when it was really just a reflection of the sunlight. The definition of serendipity is having an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident, but in my opinion, the aptitude needs to be observance and curiosity for serendipity to occur.

Serendipity and Luck

Serendipity is a happy accident. You might not come up with what you wanted to start off with, but you sure are happy you did; this is a feeling that Steve Jobs certainly had in his life. What was meant to be a computer hardware company, after Steve Jobs’ acquisition, Pixar ventured into the animated film industry and became the most successful film animation company. To experience serendipities, luck is a necessary factor, but it is formed by more important factors such as originality and perseverance; The connection between luck and serendipity always boggles my mind because of the ambiguity of luck; its definition is “a force that seems to operate for good”, but when does it operate and why it does so is still very mysterious. I do believe that “luck” is necessary to experience serendipity, but that it is developed through working hard and thinking innovatively.

Going back to the old saying, “Luck favors the Brave”, I believe that everything happens for a reason, and hence, your hard work will get “converted” into some luck that helps you get serendipities. I hope I didn’t lose you there, but that statement makes some sense because if you can’t earn luck, then would you be lucky to be lucky… to be lucky? Coming back to Steve, he definitely had “luck” considering the fact that he was alive in the era of computers which greatly accelerated his companies’ performance, (and I still stick to the fact that he earned this luck because he was one of the first into the microcomputer market which influenced the entire computer era till date), but his serendipities came through his innovative thinking, originality and perseverance; he was one of the first to chase after the "personal computer", and strived to bring about products that were never available to masses. Such qualities enabled Steve to be successful in his endeavors, even if through serendipity or "luck". May Steve Jobs rest in peace; I shall end with my favorite quote of his: “Almost everything–all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure–these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”

Serendipity

Everyone witnesses accidental events. However, only a sagacious mind can transform seemingly arbitrary events to its benefit. Keeping that in mind, I would define ‘Serendipity’ as an aptitude for recognizing what appears to be a random occurrence and directly/indirectly using it to make a discovery. I believe, except in the rare cases, no human being is born with this aptitude or sagacity; it has to be achieved through hard work and perseverance. Only then will one be able to experience serendipity. Most of science’s discoveries have serendipitous roots. Would Alexander Fleming have discovered Penicillin had he not taken notice that the mold (Penicillium) had destroyed the surrounding colonies of bacteria that he was conducting research on? No. Any other person would have probably discarded that slide of bacteria.

Thomas Jefferson rightly said "I am a great believer of luck, and I find that the harder I work, the more I have of it". I believe that hard work and sagacity go hand in hand. Diligence gives birth to a keen mind and a sound judgment based on knowledge and experience.

Serendipity is often confused with luck, coincidence and fluke. While the above concepts might have a role to play in a discovery, being prepared is the key. So, when opportunity does knock, the chances of successfully realizing and taking advantage of the situation are significantly increased. According to Shakespeare, "All things are ready if our minds be so."

Serendipity

Serendipity is a word that is tough to be translated by people; however, it can simply be defined as the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way. I believe serendipity happens to specialists, for the most part, because they have the knowledge and power to interpret serendipitous events in a beneficial manner. A Swiss chemist, Albert Hoffman, accidentally ingested LSD in his lab and found its properties. On the other hand, if a high school dropout would have ingested LSD, he or she would be totally clueless and would not be able to correctly interpret the event that took place, making it invaluable.

The number of potentially serendipitous events that take place everyday are probably countless but only those go down in the books of history that are interpreted correctly thus changing a way of life. For example, famous scientists such as Alexander Fleming, discoverer of penicillin, and William Halsted, developer of the surgical glove, are knowledgeable people who had the brains required for making these discoveries take place. Scientists even openly admit to serendipity’s role in their breakthrough innovations and discoveries for the simple reason that they made these discoveries because they are specialists in their field of study. Therefore, in my opinion it is completely safe to say that serendipity has played an important role in science and technology. Louis Pasteur, a renowned French scientist, famously said, “In the fields of observation, chance favors only the prepared mind.” This quote summarizes my thoughts on serendipity!

Serendipity

Throughout the history of science many of the greatest discoveries have been serendipitous. An apple fell out of a tree onto Newton’s head. Fleming grew penicillin on accident. Out of these two discoveries grew our understanding of gravity and our use of antibiotics. However, what if these two discoveries had happened to different, less knowing men? Newton was trained in math and science, as was Fleming. If two average men had discovered gravity or penicillin, would they have even known what to do? More importantly, if they had made the discovery would the rest of society have listened to them? Serendipity can happen to anyone as long as they are paying attention. However, lucky discoveries by untrained men are much less credible than those of men trained in the field of the discovery.

Think of it this way. When you were in a high school math class if your not-so-smart friend accidentally stumbled across the answer doing their own work did you listen to them? I know that I didn’t. Conversely, if the teacher accidentally came across some method of doing a problem I would have believed him. The teacher was trained in the field, so to me his serendipitous discovery was legitimate whereas I would have been very skeptical of my friend’s discovery. Now, scale this up to a real, world changing discovery like that of penicillin. If your neighbor accidentally grew bacteria that he thought would cure diseases and asked you to take the “medicine”, would you? I know that I wouldn’t. However, if it were a legitimate, trained biologist, I would feel much more comfortable listening to them and using the bacteria. As long as they are made by trained professionals lucky, serendipitous discoveries are just as legitimate as discoveries made after a long process that requires tremendous amounts of perseverance.