“Trends begin when someone does the impossible”.

In other words, you gain a following when you do something that no one else had even considered doing previously, either because it was too much effort, was seen as intractable, or just didn’t make sense to anyone before it was done.

I was looking for the reason trends began in the sciences; what finally allowed me to come to this realization wasn’t science at all, but was watching difficult problem solving trends among players in a game that I run. One player is invariably required to prove that solving a puzzle is possible at all, then the rest follow.

It’s a useful microcosm, and an example of what I like to call the principle of universality: you can derive nearly any idea from any area you choose, so long as you keep an open mind.