How Common Is Accidental Invention?
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The article discusses the frequency of accidental inventions in the history of science and technology, sparking a discussion on the role of serendipity in innovation.
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Sep 25, 2025 at 8:55 PM EDT
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From the comments:
>The moral of the story is that planning and structured R&D funding matters. If 90% of inventions over this time period were intentional (people looking for a solution to that specific problem), it matters a lot.
Mainly the "accidents" occur as collateral surprises during intentional efforts to create targeted solutions. Tangential or not.
Targeted solutions that succeed are the main thing that's appreciated, I feel that most researchers who are dedicated to that kind of effort have preferred not to reveal that any of their advances are accidental if it's avoidable.
I expect lots of under-reporting of the serendipidous breakthroughs has been tradititonal.