What do you call this?

When you are seeking a particular outcome and inadvertently your input creates an outcome that is different from what was desired but no less desirable (For example seeking cure for aids and find the cure for cancer, trying to make a new kind of gas and instead make a tasty drink).

I was sure there was a particular term for it....

serendipity, in a way


Cool! I remember when I first learned the word serendipity--I was looking up some other word in the dictionary (or maybe I was just leafing through the dictionary) and I came upon it. Isn't that as self-referential as you can get?

you call it ... a kick *** accident ......

Things like that can happen by 'happy chance'.

Unintended consequence, or accidental discovery.

"accidental discovery" i guess

The word you're seeking is serendipity.

serendipity
noun
good luck in making unexpected and fortunate discoveries.

serendipitous adj., serendipitously adv.

Origin
1754 (but rare before 20c.), coined by Horace Walpole (1717-92) in a letter to Mann (dated Jan. 28); he said he formed it from the Persian fairy tale "The Three Princes of Serendip," whose heroes "were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things they were not in quest of." The name is from Serendip, an old name for Ceylon (modern Sri Lanka), from Arabic Sarandib, from Skt. Simhaladvipa "Dwelling-Place-of-Lions Island." Serendipitous formed c.1950.

Online Etymology Dictionary, 漏 2001 Douglas Harper