As a student, I could spend hours in a library without knowing exactly what I was looking for. Later, I spent afternoons at Barnes & Noble with friends, coffee on the table and books around us, where conversations about a book often became conversations about life. On airplanes, a simple request for the sports or business section of a newspaper could turn into a conversation with a stranger. Looking back, I realize how much of discovery—and connection—came from things we encountered by accident.

Today, AI can give us answers in seconds. It can summarize, explain, translate, and connect an extraordinary amount of information. But as knowledge becomes increasingly digital, personalized, and invisible, I find myself wondering what happens to the things we don’t go looking for: the unexpected book, the conflicting perspective, the stranger’s conversation, or the question we never thought to ask. Learn more inside.