Adjacent Possible
The Adjacent Possible is a concept developed by complexity theorist Stuart Kauffman and popularised by Steven Johnson that describes the space of innovations immediately reachable from the current state. Not all innovations are possible at any given time — they require combinatorial preconditions. Understanding the adjacent possible helps explain why certain inventions appear simultaneously from multiple inventors, why innovation follows predictable pathways, and how to identify which ideas are "ready" for their moment versus prematurely ahead of their time.