I think that the dullest of the lines drawn about this definition is its component of skill. We know that in this case skill is defined by your intelligence and therefore your education. Society today is centered around intelligence, and we are constantly pushed to learn new things and apply them to our lives. Most of those who have created today's most important inventions are esteemed with a term of the highest intelligence, genius. Is serendipity only available to those of this status, or is it something more common place? How much intelligence is required to become serendipitous?
Through my research in serendipity I have learned to define it as something available to everyone who, in return, open to learn. For example: within the first years of our lives we are push to obtain one of the most difficult of concepts, language. Is the word first uttered from our lips one of sweat and back-breaking learning or rather just a fluke of sound that made your parents "ooh" and "awh"? I believe that even this occurrence is serendipitous. A perfect balance of flash-card practice and just straight up luck were about and used to help you to form "mama" or "papa" on those early days.
Too much serendipity?
However, I also believe that the higher your level of education the more opportunities that appear for these spontaneous ideas. We all know the story of Newton and the apple -applause to those to link that situation to serendipity. Had Newton not been learned in mathematics and science, he would have only seen this as a great deal of luck not to have to pick up lunch that day! In my opinion, the build-up of your intelligence allows you the ability to differ between regular luck and opportunity. So, in conclusion, serendipitous acts may occur every day in our lives, but we may be mentally incapable at the time to make sense of them.
So what serendipitous signs are you ignoring in your life?
Careful, you could be the next Newton.
Melissa, I loved your post and your idea that serendipity and luck kind of work together. By the end, you had me interested in the idea that serendipity happens to everyone, but that by being knowledgeable gives you more opportunities. I loved your example of baby language being the perfect mix of practice and luck. This example really helped me understand your point.
ReplyDeleteI love the photo of Stevie, so true.
After reading your example of baby language, I was interested in learning more. I think this link is pretty interesting:
http://www.parenting.com/article/how-children-learn-to-talk
Jennifer Rattray Section A4
I really enjoyed reading your post. I totally agree with you about the link between luck and intelligence in serendipity. If we don't have the knowledge to understand the discovery what good is it? None at all. Further, I really liked the example that you gave about babies learning to talk as an example of serendipity. Also, I love the picture of Stewie.
ReplyDelete--Nick Curran G5
I enjoyed reading this post. I never thought about serendipity in relation to something as simple as a baby talking. I totally agree that serendipity is greatly influenced by intelligence, but does intelligence give someone more opportunities for serendipity or does it allow that person to capitalize on the opportunities he has? This question is definitely worth thinking about. I also love the picture of Stewie, as Family Guy is one of my favorite shows. Another part I like about this post is the last paragraph, which really causes me to reflect on my life about the potentially serendipitous opportunities in my life. It also causes me to think about how much more could be discovered if everyone was observant and intelligent enough to capitalize on the good fortune of serendipity.
ReplyDeleteWyatt Gouldthorpe A4