What is it called when two ideas or inventions appear in different parts of the world around the same time?

Question

I used to know the term, but I forgot it.

Answer 1

Independent invention as opposed to diffusion.("Independent creation" may also be used)

Diffusion is when an  invention such as the bow and arrow, may be developed by one person. It then spreads out from there. It is known that the invention of paper (placing wood pulp on a screen to dry into a sheet) was developed by a monk in China. It then spread from there.

Independent invention is when several societies appear to start using the bow and arrow at the same time. They are separated by great distances so diffusion is unlikely. Below there's an interesting article on the invention of the compass and a discussion of diffusion.

The invention of the telephone may be credited to four people: Alexander Graham Bell, Elisha Gray, Thomas Edison, or Antonio Meucci. Today Bell gets credit as he was issued the patent.

One reason the Wright brothers "invented the airplane" was this statement was part of the deal they made with the Smithsonian.

Genius is everywhere. People see things and place them together in a new way. With the telephone most of the parts were already there: battery, wire, magnets and the telegraph communicated with sound. Making it possible to use wires to carry a voice really was expected and multiple people achieved it.

Answer 2

It's sometimes blamed on the "Zeitgeist."  Less mystically, it can be a simultaneous convergence of conclusions based on similar observations... Wallace and Darwin, for instance.

Answer 3

You may be thinking of Jung. Look into his theories concerning the collective unconscious and archetypal images.

Answer 4

You might be thinking of serendipity???

Answer 5

Cosmic Consciousness/Mental Telepathy...