james burke

• "what's happening here is i think, the fundamental process involved in innovation and the main reason it has been hard so far to second-guess change is the way change happens when things come together in ways that never have before. and when that juxtaposition occurs the root of maths change and one and one suddenly makes three.
  
  the result of the process, is more than the sum of the parts. and almost always unpredictibly so. couple of examples:
  
  late 19th century german automotive engineer wilhelm maybach, puts together the perfume spray and gasoline and creates what we call: the carburator.
  
  another one: around the same time, a medical researcher accidentally spills one of the newly invented chemical dyes into a peatry dish containing bacteria. next morning he sees that it has preforentially stained and killed one particular kind of bug. bingo. chemotherapy.
  
  now, in the face of this kind of serendipity, the only question that matters is "why?". what is it about change, that makes it hard to manage because it is constantly so surprising? good surprising, if it's you doing it to your enemies in the battlefield or marketplace, bad surprising if it's hitting you in your face. "