"Are you having a big, breakthrough idea right now? A few hundred people around the world are probably having the exact same insight at the exact same time," writes Clive Thompson, author of Smarter Than You Think, over at Medium. From his post:
This is what's known as the principle of "multiples," which posits that genius breakthroughs in innovation, science, and the arts aren't rare at all. They're quite common. And once you understand that, it can change the way you think about developing really big, interesting ideas….
Inventors' ideas are influenced and midwifed by the state of technology around them, the conversational topics in society, and the maturity of other science and artisanship they're building on. Since inventors are embedded in the same environment with each other — particularly if they're in the same social and educational class — it increases the chance they'll turn their minds to similar problems.
"Genius is More Common Than You Think" (Medium)
Smarter Than You Think: How Technology Is Changing Our Minds for the Better (Amazon)
