How did inventions happen simultaneously by different people if "god" didn't show us?

[hagaleah]

"How did these invention ideas come simultaneous to completely different people?"

Science and invention, more often than not, respond to current demand. If there's a demand for an invention, or a new influential theory that poses some kind of testable question, then multiple inventors/scientists will research the same idea/question, which can result in multiple people coming up with the same result. It's not like ideas sprinkle themselves randomly amongst the population, and that the same idea is some huge coincidence.

For example, today, many hundreds of mathematicians are currently working on the Riemann Hypothesis, because there is a very clear need in the mathematics community (and beyond) for a proof either way (also because there's a million dollar prize involved as well). If multiple people discover the solution, I would not be in the least bit surprised.

[galvin]

Successful inventors don't work in a vacuum. They are aware of what's going on around them, especially those things in their field. When the cumulative knowledge in a field reaches a critical mass, something new is bound to emerge. It is not surprising that several people come up with similar inventions at the same time.

It would, however, be surprising if only a few people came up with an idea, if God were broadcasting inspiration. One would expect hundreds, if not thousands, of people to "invent" the same thing at the same time. It would also be surprising if that broadcast inspiration took centuries to take effect. Calculus, for example, was first touched on by a chinese scholar writing centuries before Newton was born. Why didn't some earlied Englishman pick up on the inspiration?

[mace]

Jungian Collective Consciousness.

[ashly]

yes God did it makes perfect sense because it is totally impossible for people to arrive on similar, if not, the same idea after making the same observation...yes, that is totally impossible...

[link]

yes God did it makes perfect sense because it is totally impossible for people to arrive on similar, if not, the same idea after making the same observation...yes, that is totally impossible...

You're missing the biggest coincidence of all - religions - every human culture on earth has invented one or more and they all bear much in common. Clearly the phenomena stems from a common cause - and it's been found too.

The "God" Part of the Brain: A Scientific Interpretation of Human Spirituality and God
http://books.google.com/books?id=PVwWDkQRTIIC&printsec=frontcover&ie=ISO-8859-1&output=html&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0

What Do Brains Have to Do With It? How Neuroscience Can Contribute to Understanding the Role of Religion in Society
http://mason.gmu.edu/~mpolski/documents/PolskiASREC2009.pdf

Religion, morality, evolution.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21943167

Searching for God in the Brain
http://brainmind.com/DreamsSpiritsSouls.pdf

How do morals change?
http://ss12-haitham.mvstudents.org/files/2011/09/464490a.pdf

Religious belief as an evolutionary accident
http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=l8uGRW4W2loC&oi=fnd&pg=PA118&dq=%22paul+bloom%22&ots=rNQZrSVcZ2&sig=j0MyB3VxQ1EeAiqKzpyT0rMDhPI

The Religious System as Adaptive: Cognitive Flexibility, Public Displays, and Acceptance
http://www.springerlink.com/content/x405p14215716370/

Braintrust: what neuroscience tells us about morality
http://books.google.com/books?id=tLsIzyFR08IC&printsec=frontcover&ie=ISO-8859-1&output=html

In the Name of God: The Evolutionary Origins of Religious Ethics and Violence
http://www.arsdisputandi.org/publish/articles/000372/article.pdf

Spiritual neuroscience
http://brainethics.wordpress.com/2006/08/04/spiritual-neuroscience/