Exaptation

I've read, and now I'm re-reading the fabulous Steven Johnson book Where Good Ideas Come From. I'll be posting a summary of the book in a future post, but for today I'll mention the concept of exaptation.

Wiktionary defines exaptation as " The use of a biological structure or function for a purpose other than that for which it initially evolved." Innovation often works this way as well - repurposing a tool or idea.

Here is an example of exaptation from my kitchen: pancakes + cookie cutters = fun breakfast for the kids:

From Career Bootcamp