The Ministry of Serendipity

Written 2025-09-10 · Published 2026-10-16 · Last edited —

I credit the idea of the use of Serendipity to a friend, teacher and mentor of mine.

The MoS (Ministry of Serendipity) is not a scientific research facility, but it is closer to a science research funding system.

Principles

The Ministry of Serendipity stands on 3 principles

• For serendipity itself : a case for the value of randomness
• The detachment from biaises : a systematic countermeasure against conflicts of interests
• The measure against the "End-of-History Illusion" : a review of our pillar we stand upon

How it works

First, teams (or individuals) trying to research or defend distinct scientific hypothesis can be put on a wait list.

These teams will be divided upon their "economical classes". It is paramount to not have classes divided by scientific field or by importance to combat a Gerrymandering of research that could be manipulated.

Then, for each classes a few teams (which will depend on the total budget), a randomly selected number of teams will gain funding for a certain time frame.

Science Spam

Of course, there will be a review of the teams, to filter "science spam".

Science spam can take 2 forms :

1. a surplus oriented demand of budget
2. a goal of manipulation of probabilistic outcome

But the very definition of science spam is very delicate. As it can be used to cherry pick some projects over another, which is exactly what this ministry aims to destroy.

There should therefore be a systematic way to spot these science spam in order to filter them without bias.

Example

Lets say that we have 3 classes :

• class 1 has a budget of 100k
• class 2 has a budget of 1 million dollars
• class 3 has a budget of 10 million dollars

And we have a number of teams for distinct hypothesis that ask to be wait listed.

• class 1 : a new framework for coding, a review of our current water purification system, etc..
• class 2 : testing a new diet, deep sea expedition ,etc...
• class 3 : new alternative sleep medicine, flat earth proof, review for existing sleep medicine, review for plastic forks, a development of a pure math field ,etc...

Upon review, it was detected that "review for existing sleep medicine" , "review for plastic forks", and many others queries were science spam done with the intent of manipulation by big pharma to statistically diminish the chances for the alternative sleep medicine to get funding. They were therefore removed.

The query for the research on a new math field was also deemed science spam as the budget demand seemed inappropriate, it was therefore moved down to class 1.

Then maybe once a year, or every 3 years, there is a random selection of teams for each classes and the results are

• class 1 : funding for the review of our current water purification system
• class 2 : funding for a deep sea expedition
• class 3 : funding for proving that the earth is flat

And you will feel like pouring 10 million dollars on check if the earth is flat is outrageous, which I agree. But I still stand by the fact we do need a true random selection system. We mght conclude that the earth is indeed a globe after using 10 million dollars, but we might actually discover something interesting in the way.