Serendipity and the pursuit of knowledge

As music flows, its beats concoct a “vibe” within me. Through moments of cathartic release, my subconscious harnesses the vibe to drive the musicality of my freestyle, contorting my body in ways I had never done before. 

The visceral experience of every freestyle roused me with profound wonder: How did musicality materialize subconsciously? How else could I channel the power of the subconscious? 

My imagination danced along. Observing the non-linear process in which I executed new dance moves before actively learning the moves themselves, I started pondering if learning – in general – could similarly be a non-linear or non-active process. 

The researcher within me decided to empirically experiment. I devised a “circular model” of learning: while studying a topic, I would simultaneously scan through more advanced materials (a year or two ahead of my level), and alternate between the two. I postulated that a subconscious awareness of the advanced concepts – even if I did not actively comprehend them – might provide me with an intuition and broader perspective of the topic at hand, potentially expediting my learning process. 

Through my empirical experience, I indeed experienced an uptick in my learning speed! While my endeavor was far from legitimate research, my sixteen year old self was mind-blown by how open-mindedness and active reflection upon my dance allowed me to stimulate serendipity in a completely different field. My curiosity piqued once again: was this instance of serendipity just a “one-hit wonder”, or did greater potential lie beyond the experience? I was galvanized to explore further. 

During a research project focused on recycling soft plastics, my team successfully extracted out harmful plasticizers from used plastics. However, we were unsure of how to meaningfully process the extracted waste. Prolonged ideation of chemical decomposition methods unfortunately yielded no solutions. 

It was a perfect opportunity to leverage upon serendipity. Surprisingly, my team found inspiration in economics. Through a lecture about cost and profits, we explored the idea of turning our project into a business. Hunting for avenues of profit helped to reframe our angle of analysis, and we discovered that the extracted waste could be chemically re-engineered to produce a valuable chemical precursor: phthalic anhydride. This synthesis method gave new value to the extracted waste, and also provided a significantly cheaper pathway of producing phthalic anhydride compared to the current market manufacturing process! 

Exhilarated, my team continued merging our chemistry knowledge with other economic theories: the analysis of opportunity costs determined the type of plastic products worth recycling; and the concepts of diminishing returns determined the optimal quantity of plastics to recycle per cycle. 

When consumed in an overly specialized field of thought, serendipity uncoupled our thinking from the subject at hand. Inspired by alternative perspectives, we were empowered to avoid thinking traps (e.g. Einstellung effect), and formulate creative solutions within the banal conditions. 

My team’s product? A novel chemical synthesis pathway, a profitable recycling process, and invitations to international research conferences. 

The creative interference of diverse disciplines has conceived many of my greatest ideas. Over time, the pursuit of serendipity integrated into my personal philosophy. I began exploring thinking frameworks from various disciplines – although I neither desired becoming a Renaissance Man, nor a dilettante. I aspire to specialize in a single discipline (Physics), while leveraging upon the confluence of divergent thinking frameworks to create avant-garde approaches for solving complex problems in my field. 

Believing in the spirit of collaboration, I also eagerly share my mental models with others, hoping to inspire their own revelations, innovations, and creations for the benefit of society. Like ripples in the ocean, I believe my cumulative exchange of ideas with others will allow our combined impact on society to be much more than what I can ever contribute alone. 

With the power to choreograph my life journey, it is sometimes better to freestyle: to chance upon off-beat possibilities, and return to my end goal with greater stride.