Weekend Reflections #20 | The Serendipity Effect

Serendipity.

I think I first heard the word in the 2001 movie with the same name.

And the concept immediately clicked with me.

I'd experienced it from time to time, but never had a name for it.

Finding something valuable by chance, while looking for something else.

A new idea, an unexpected connection between things that seemed completely unrelated.

What intrigues me is that the connection seems to happen in your mind. Almost autonomously.

I can rarely tell where the connection actually came from.

I might remember when it clicked. But that doesn't mean the connection was formed at that exact moment.

Maybe my brain had already started connecting the dots hours earlier, without me being aware of it.

I don't really know.

Louis Pasteur once said, "In the fields of observation, chance favors only the prepared mind."

I came across that quote in a rather unexpected way.

A few months ago, I was explaining to my daughter why I pasteurize the eggs when I make tiramisu.

Which led to a conversation about why it's called pasteurization. And eventually to Louis Pasteur.

We searched for him on Google, and somewhere along the way, we found that quote.

I loved it.

And now, months later, while writing about serendipity, it came back to me.

Which is rather fitting.

Because chance alone probably isn't enough.

What you've been exposed to matters. The concepts you've encountered, the perspectives you've considered, the things you've learned over time.

And your ability to recognize that a connection is actually valuable.

You cannot force serendipity. But you can probably increase the chances of it happening.

Which brings me to AI.

In fact, this reflection actually started during a conversation with AI about a completely different topic I was exploring.

At some point, it mentioned a company with "serendipity" in its name.

That single word was enough to trigger a series of connections and take my thoughts in a different direction.

I wasn't looking for serendipity. But here I am, writing about it.

What interests me about AI is how a single conversation can expose me to different perspectives.

It's not a replacement for books, conversations with people, or other experiences. Just another way to explore ideas.

And a remarkably convenient one. I don't even have to leave my desk.

I often start with a question. Sometimes because I'm trying to understand something. Sometimes because I want to challenge an assumption.

One answer leads to another question. That question opens another topic. And suddenly, I'm exploring something that wasn't even part of the original conversation.

More exposure doesn't necessarily mean more diversity, and sometimes AI may simply make familiar ideas easier to explore.

Most of the time, nothing particularly remarkable happens.

I learn something. Deepen my understanding of a topic. Perhaps discover a perspective I hadn't considered before. Or just kill an idea.

And that's it.

But occasionally, something different happens.

Something from the conversation connects with something else I've encountered before. Perhaps an idea I've been thinking about for a while. Or something I read years ago.

And suddenly, I see something I hadn't seen before.

The interesting part is that AI didn't necessarily make that connection.

What AI introduces into a conversation and what my mind eventually connects it to are two different things.

And it might not even happen during the conversation.

Something I explored with AI could become relevant hours later. Or days later. Perhaps combined with something else entirely.

I can count the conversations I've had with AI. I cannot count the connections they may have helped create.

Maybe AI isn't generating serendipity after all.

Maybe it is just increasing the number of opportunities for it to happen.

Using a technology intentionally to increase the chances of something fundamentally unintentional happening.

Not simply getting answers faster.

But making it much easier to end up somewhere we never intended to go.