The article raises several interesting questions (perhaps those brief determining historical factors are actually important to quality?), but it might suffer in picking easy targets (Timberlake, <em>Harry Potter</em>) for its subject matter. How would this theory work when applied to, say, the category of literary modernism (are Joyce an Elliot the same random occurrences?) or even something more radical: Einstein's theory of general relativity.
posted by Rex at 2007-04-15 18:13:40 
sounds like the black swan in full effect
posted by glitch at 2007-04-15 21:33:06
See also: <a href="http://mashable.com/2007/04/15/is-digg-the-result-of-cumulative-advantage/" target="_blank">Mashable makes the Digg connection</a>.
posted by Rex at 2007-04-15 22:02:21
