In fact serendipity can serve as a silent partner in the process of emergent change as many notable ideas and innovations have come about as the byproduct of an unplanned and an unexpected set of circumstances. Second-guessing the outcomes in a planned or analytical manner is difficult because when people or things or ideas come together in new ways, an evolution occurs. Connections are made by accident, there are unintended consequences and seemingly unrelated factors come together to form completely new possibilities. Many events we encounter almost always come as a surprise because things these days don’t happen as a planned and controllable process. We live in an increasingly unstable and unpredictable world with a rate of change that is only increasing. Nature loves complexity, and there is a lot that we can learn from it. It represents the characteristics of complexity its behavior is a non-linear evolution through the interaction of many factors that cannot be planned or controlled, and through which new and novel possibilities are revealed. This connectivity cannot be predicted or planned, and it is only knowable in retrospect. The hummingbird effect demonstrates that an event in one field can trigger completely unexpected outcomes in wholly different domains. Whilst they are very different organisms with very different needs and different biological systems, the flower clearly interacts with the hummingbird, influencing it in a direct and intelligible way that results in a natural biomechanical innovation. The hummingbird effect involves a subtle connection between the flower and the hummingbird.They are connected, only because everything is connected at some level, but it is far beyond our capacity to logically break down those connections and, even harder, to predict them in advance. The butterfly effect involves an intricate chain of events, i.e., you can’t map the link between the air molecules bouncing around the butterfly and the storm system brewing across the ocean.Although derived from the famous butterfly effect concept from chaos theory – Edward Lorenz’s famous metaphor for the idea that a change as imperceptible as the flap of a butterfly’s wings can result in an effect as grand as a storm far away several weeks later, the two concepts differ in a very fundamental way:
These complex chains of interconnected events define the hummingbird effect. In other words, they had to learn an entirely new way to fly.
In order to do this, the hummingbird had to evolve a highly unique form of flight mechanics that enable them to hover alongside the flower in a way that few birds can even come close to doing. The co-evolution between flowering plants and insects that led to the production of nectar ultimately created an opportunity for much larger animals - the humble hummingbird - to extract the nectar. Bees and other insects evolved the sensory tools to see and be drawn to flowers, just as the flowers evolved the properties that attract bees. Over time, the flowers supplemented the pollen with even more energy-rich nectar to lure the insects into the rituals of pollination. This signaled the presence of pollen to insects, which correspondingly evolved sophisticated means to extract the pollen and, inadvertently, fertilize other flowers with pollen. Sometime during the Cretaceous age (about 100 million years ago), flowers began to evolve colors and scents. They hover in mid-air at rapid wing-flapping rates, typically around 50 times per second, which creates frequencies that are audible to humans: a hum! However, what is truly fascinating about this is how the hummingbird evolved their ability to hover in mid-air. Hummingbirds derive their name from the humming sound created as they beat their wings.
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