Manyimportantdiscoveriesorcreationsareaccidental(fory accidental-爱华网

Manyimportant discoveries or creations are accidental: it is usuallywhile seeking the answer to one question that we come across theanswer to anotherThestatement contends that the most important discoveries andcreations are accidental -- that they come about when we areseeking answers to other questions. I concede that this concernfinds considerable support from important discoveries of the past.However, the contention overstates the role of accident, orserendipity, when it comes to modern-day discoveries and when itcomes to creations.Turningfirst to discoveries, I agree that discovery often occurs when weunexpectedly happen upon something in our quest for something else-- such as an answer to an unrelated question or a solution to anunrelated problem. A variety of geographical, scientific andanthropological discoveries aptly illustrate this point. In searchof a trade route to the West Indies, Columbus discovered instead aninhabited continent unknown to Europeans; and during the course ofan unrelated experiment, Fleming accidentally discoveredpenicillin. In search of answers to questions about marineorganisms, oceanographers often run across previously undiscovered,and important, archeological artifacts and geological phenomena;conversely, in their quest to understand the earth's structure andhistory, geologists often stumble upon important humanartifacts.In light ofthe foregoing examples, "intentional discovery" might seem anoxymoron; yet in fact it is not. Many important discoveries areanticipated and sought out purposefully. For instance, in theirefforts to find new celestial bodies, astronomers usingincreasingly powerful telescopes do indeed find them. Biochemistsoften discover important new vaccines and other biological andchemical agents for the curing, preventing and treating of diseasesnot by stumbling upon them in search of something else but ratherthrough methodical search for discoveries. In fact, in today'sworld, discovery is becoming increasingly an anticipated result ofcareful planning and methodical research, for the reason thatscientific advancement now requires significant resources that onlylarge corporations and governments possess. These entities areaccountable to their shareholders and constituents, who demandclear strategies and objectives so that they can see a return ontheir investment.Turning nextto how our creations typically come about in marked contrasts todiscoveries, creations are, by nature, the products of theircreator's purposeful designs. Consider humankind's key creations,such as the printing press, the internal combustion engine, andsemi-conductor technology. Each of these inventions sprung quiteintentionally from the inventor's imagination and objectives. It iscrucial to distinguish between a creation and the spin-offs fromthat creation, which the original creator may or may not foresee.For instance, the engineers at a handful university who originallycreated the ARPA net as a means to transfer data amongst themselvescertainly intended to create the network for that purpose. Whatthese engineers did not intend to create, however, was what wouldeventually grow to become the infrastructure for mass media andcommunications, and even commerce. Yet the ARPA net itself was noaccident, nor are the many creations that it spawned, such as theWorld Wide Web has in turn spawned.In sum, thespeaker has overlooked a crucial distinction between the nature ofdiscovery and the nature of creation. Although serendipity hasalways played a key role in many important discoveries, at least upuntil now, purposeful intent is necessarily the key to humancreation.