Alternative Paths to Insight
The preceding sections give the misleading impression that insight only follows a prolonged search for the explanation to one’s observations. Other sources of insight, however, can be just as fruitful. Chance can play a prominent role in discovery. Many breakthroughs are by amateurs, or at least by those with scanty experience of the relevant evidence. And one of the most powerful ways of achieving an insight is to borrow from another field.
Unexpected Results
Chance makes an influential, yet often overlooked, contribution to discovery. For example, Roentgen’s discovery of X-rays began with an accident: photographic plates left near a discharge tube were inexplicably blackened. When Alexander Fleming noticed a strange mold growing on his culture dish, he isolated it, purified it, and discovered penicillin, the first antibiotic.
Rather than providing a variation on existing themes, chance discovery can lead to a totally new perspective. One can seek insight but cannot seek chance discovery. One can, however, open oneself to this type of discovery [Beveridge, 1955]:
Be alert for any unexpected result. Resist the temptation to rationalize away or discard them. Remember that observations that do not fit predictions, though often ignored, sometimes are responsible for the new paradigm. “Remain alert and sensitive for the unexpected while watching for the expected” [Beveridge, 1955]. Try novel procedures, to increase the likelihood of encountering surprises.
In seeking insight from unexpected results, we may encounter pitfalls instead. It is easy to become distracted and pulled in a new direction by every unexpected result, so that one seldom completes a suite of experiments. This pitfall is often avoidable: simply flag the unexpected data and come back to them later. One can easily confuse the ‘chance-in-a-lifetime’ result with trivial results, failing to follow up on the former or wasting considerable time on the latter. Louis Pasteur [18221895, a] repeatedly said, “In the field of experimentation, chance favors only the prepared mind.” One needs considerable background, to recognize the unexpected result and to evaluate correctly its importance and significance.
Transfer From Other Disciplines
One path to insight that is frequently successful, yet underutilized, is the extension of a technique, algorithm, relationship, or equipment from one field to another:
“For every original discovery there are dozens of important advances which are made simply by recognizing that a scheme developed for one field or application can be applied to another.” [Wilson, 1952]
“Making variations on a theme is really the crux of creativity.” [Hofstadter, 1985]
For example, Einstein’s emphasis on reference frames was a key not only to relativity but also, much later, to the paradigm of plate tectonics in geology. The recent physics paradigm of chaos is creating breakthroughs in oceanography, meteorology, biology, and earthquake mechanics. These
