This is what’s known as the principle of “multiples,” which posits that genius breakthroughs in innovation, science, and the arts aren’t rare at all. They’re quite common. And once you understand that, it can change the way you think about developing really big, interesting ideas.

The modern story of multiples begins back in 1922, when two sociologists — William Ogburn and Dorothy Thomas — published a paper on the concept. “It is an interesting phenomenon,” they wrote, “that many inventions have been made two or more times by different inventors, each working without knowledge of the other’s research.”