The Biggest Breakthroughs in Science Happening Right Now
Plain English with Derek Thompson
The Phenomenon of Simultaneous Invention and Twin Ideas
The concept of twin ideas or simultaneous invention has been observed throughout history, with examples such as the discovery of the theory of evolution by Darwin and European scientists in the same year, the invention of the telegraph by Charles Wheatstone and Samuel Morse in 1837, and the filing of patents for the telephone by Elijah Gray and Alexander Graham Bell on the exact same day in 1876. This phenomenon has also been seen in the field of artificial intelligence, where multiple advanced tools like ChatGPT, GPT-3, and DALL·E emerged around the same time. The speaker ponders whether this phenomenon is a product of luck or if it reflects the existence of ideas in the collective consciousness, influenced by technological advancements occurring in the same locations.
