One of my favourite ideas is that of a Local optimum , a mathematical concept that can be applied more broadly. If you've never heard of the term, it's that starting somewhere you may incrementally improve but never discover that a better solution exists. For instance, imagine you're in the 10th century, trying to develop the fastest means of transportation. The current state of the art is the horse; you therefore decide to spend time breeding better horses. You make a small improvement, but with this approach you have no chance of discovering any of the many technologies that have now replaced the horse. (1) Pseudo-mathematically, this might look something like:
