John
@MEGA_Creativity
Exploring creativity, agency, potential. Choose better problems. Writer, actuary 🪁 MEGA Creativity (book WIP & weekly newsletter), Infinite Edge (blog). 🇿🇦
Exploration precedes Generation in creative work
I’ve noticed people who have good creative ideas usually know tons of things. Good researchers have read a lot of papers. Good musicians have listened to a lot of songs. Not only that, they generally have strong opinions about what’s good/bad out there. I wonder why? I…
"so long as you live, keep learning how to live" Seneca
Always carry a book with you:
This is the exploration phase of creativity: idea selection, learning, skills assimilation, wandering - the more you explore the more interesting, relevant and original your ideas in the next phase: generation.
Creating anything worthwhile is like a marathon, and you must train for it.
There was a young man from Nantucket Who thought that his mind was a bucket. So he went back to school Where they filled it with gruel Until he rebelled saying
The below is the narrow definition of creativity. Creativity is much more than this. It's why I advocate for an expanded definition: one that includes motivation (problem finding), exploration (learning / dot collection) , generation (new ideas /dot connection), and amelioration…
Creativity is connecting the dots others don't see.
The amelioration phase in creativity is very often about reduction. 'Kill your darlings' is a great phrase to remember.
"Kill your darlings." -- William Falkner In context, Falkner is saying to cut out text that detracts from your writing, no matter how much you like your discursion. I think of this when I cut out part of a blog post that I find interesting but doubt others will want to read.
Motivation, in the context of creativity, is about finding fit. Seeking work that aligns to your unique talents, interests, and proclivities. Follow fun, flow, and what makes you come alive.
You don't have to be good at everything, you just need to double down on what you're naturally suited for.
Nice piece. The intelligence wars compound this non-linear effect. We may see some swings back to artisanal, retro produce in defiance to the AI slop and tech aesthetic. But this will be on the periphery. Human creativity still the key driver in this new economy, but now far…
Most of us are playing a game that no longer exists. drorpoleg.com/the-nonlinear-…
If we think of things in terms of possibility space, discovery is the same thing as invention. The engine of creativity is discovery.
“Discovery, like surprise, favors the well-prepared mind.” Pioneering psychologist Jerome Bruner on creativity and the key to true learning themarginalian.org/2015/10/01/jer…
Broccoli is a flower that is harvested before it blooms. If you leave it alone it will bloom
Nice introduction of motivation into creative work: "what should I build for?"
Full essay from @cosmos_inst here: blog.cosmos-institute.org/p/the-philosop…
Make lists. To watch, to read, to listen. We can do better than random shelving constraints. Creativity is required in curation.
The nostalgia of Blockbuster is the nostalgia of limitation. We don't actually want limitless options.
In terms of AI artistic quality, we are still in the sewer pipe phase. Will the water ever run clean?
“Reasonable people adapt themselves to the world. Unreasonable people attempt to adapt the world to themselves. All progress, therefore, depends on unreasonable people.” -Franz Kafka