A life-long academic, the writer W.G. Sebald kept a critical distance from his discipline of German studies. His scholarly work tested and shaped the poetological premises that determine his literary work. Literary techniques such as intertextuality and bricolage first become the subject of Sebald‘s critical essays before they are applied in his literary works. Themes and motifs decisive for Sebald’s prose texts are also first dealt with in his essays, for example his poetics of coincidence and correlation. Over time, Sebald’s scholarly prose emancipates itself more and more from the conventions of German Studies, developing into a form of essay writing that hardly differs from his narrative prose and thus becomes part of his literary work.

The coincidence between the events on 9/11 in Santiago in 1973 and New York in 2001, earlier observed by Ariel Dorfman, lends itself to an analysis of the spiral of Bolaño’s oeuvre from the trauma of the 1970s Chilean dictatorship to the neo-globalizing moment that overlapped with the world dissemination of Bolaño’s work. Bolaño is nostalgic for the Allende era in Chile when meaningful social change seemed possible. Yet he is conscious that it was the authoritarian force and neoliberal economics of the Pinochet regime that was truly prophetic of the future. The nostalgic and the counterfactual, the elegiac and recursive, intertwine as Bolaño looks back on his generation’s odyssey and sees analogies for its trauma in the femicides of 2666. A nodal point of this intertwining is the tenth anniversary of the coup on September 11, 1983, where a group of “masochistic Chileans” meet in Paris in The Savage Detectives, poised between a past they never knew and a future they can scarcely envision. Bolaño knows he has to face the necropolitics of the then-present and not the nostalgia of the deferred past; yet the dream of the Allende era is never entirely renounced in his oeuvre.

This chapter examines tendency and coincidence as two categories of evidence and the rules for their admissibility that apply in civil and criminal proceedings. The tendency rule in s 97 excludes tendency (propensity evidence), which is evidence of conduct, character or reputation that is adduced to show or prove a tendency to act in a particular way or to have a particular state of mind, unless certain conditions are met. The coincidence rule in s 98 excludes evidence of two or more events (similar fact evidence) that is adduced to prove that a person did a particular act or had a particular state of mind on the basis that ‘it is improbable that the events occurred coincidentally’, unless certain conditions are met.

The chapter then examines two thresholds for admission of these. First, the evidence must have ‘significant probative value’. Second, where the prosecution is adducing the evidence in criminal proceedings, it must satisfy the additional hurdle of s 101(2). Finally, the chapter will consider the circumstances where such evidence is admitted for a purpose other than proving tendency or coincidence.

The present collection of vignettes contains a rich assortment of individual cases, each exemplifying important behavioral innovations. With so much variation, it would seem to be an impossible task to identify any underlying commonalities among them. Nevertheless, I believe that context, consequence, and coincidence can help us understand the origin and evolution of creative behavioral innovations. Along the way, we encountered the challenges posed by multiple individuals arriving at the same behavioral innovation. We considered the profound parallel between the Law of Natural Selection and the Law of Effect. We saw the theoretical emptiness of notions like genius, insight, and intelligent design. We recognized both the benefits and shortcomings of storytelling as a form of persuasive communication. And, we appreciated that a natural science of behavioral innovation is as applicable to nonhuman animals as it is to human beings – all are just making it up as they go along!

In my book, I explore the origin and evolution of a variety of behavioral innovations – including the Butterfly Stroke, the High Five, and the Heimlich Maneuver – which appear to have been ingeniously and foresightfully designed. More commonly, however, these creative acts have actually arisen “as if by design.” This revelation requires a much more thorough look into the histories of these innovations in order to better understand the very nature of behavioral creativity. What emerges is an intricate web of causation involving three main factors: context, consequence, and coincidence. By concentrating on the process rather than the product of innovation, I elevate behavior to its proper place – at the very center of creative human endeavor – for it is truly behavior that produces the innumerable innovations that have captivated thinkers’ imagination. Those most splendid theories, goods, and gadgets would never have come into being without the behaviors of their inventors.

In my book, I explore the origin and evolution of a variety of behavioral innovations – including the Butterfly Stroke, the High Five, and the Heimlich Maneuver – which appear to have been ingeniously and foresightfully designed. More commonly, however, these creative acts have actually arisen “as if by design.” This revelation requires a much more thorough look into the histories of these innovations in order to better understand the very nature of behavioral creativity. What emerges is an intricate web of causation involving three main factors: context, consequence, and coincidence. By concentrating on the process rather than the product of innovation, I elevate behavior to its proper place – at the very center of creative human endeavor – for it is truly behavior that produces the innumerable innovations that have captivated thinkers’ imagination. Those most splendid theories, goods, and gadgets would never have come into being without the behaviors of their inventors.