Creativity – Finding The Answer Before The Question
Creativity is like finding the answer before the question most of the time. It defies our intuitions about what is reasonable in a deterministic universe; how can unexpected combinations of incorporeal concepts arise fully formed out of nothingness. Is it case of ‘something from nothing’ or does it have a way that it works that can be understood? Whether the creative act is spurred on by the desire to solve a particular problem or generated spontaneously via some inspirational state of being in the world, it is usually the case that the formation into existence of what can be called creative, is an object more often than not, quite different than anything intended. We aren’t creative before we are creative. Creativity is spontaneous, and there is no way to have the deliberate awareness and guidance of the realization. In a deterministic world there is a certainly way that creativity works that if understood would demystify it. If it were possible to understand the mechanisms behind finding answers immediately, and bypassing the intermediary steps, this would be a very powerful tool.
The brain has a pattern recognition function that is always active. It seeks to fill in the blanks, and make sense one way or the other, and create a comprehensible reality. It is in this process that creativity is found – the ability to invent that which did not previously exist. Much of the time creativity does not necessarily find an answer to the question at hand but rather solve a tangentially related question.
Creativity can be viewed with a wide frame of reference, considering that the near entirety of our conscious life is a spontaneous creative happening. We are asking and answering questions to ourself at all times and in some mysterious way, apart from our will or direction, answers appear. We are compelled by what is realized. This is creativity. The life that unfolds before us is a story with many scenes and meanings that have all of the creative value of anything we might formally call ‘art’.
What is behind this creativity we live within? It is our drives. In order to satisfy our wants and needs, which are the most basic truths arising from deep within our nervous system – the archaic animalistic drives, we must find novel solutions. The human animal is gifted with a brain that can at the same time satisfy the urges with refined dignity, be it in an incredibly convoluted and self-deceiving way, but it can also find the creative solutions to make all this convolution seamless. Creativity is the side effect of having a purpose – this purpose is in the service of some very basic drive. Whether we are achieving creative results in the apparent service of some higher ideal or just in normal life, it will always have a root deep within the most basic of needs.
Our muse can be some infatuation with another person. This is probably the most archetypal creative formula. We want to prove ourselves to another in order that we can obtain the object of our desire whether in essence or reality. Nude, sensual art and fertility images have been a staple for all time. Similar to infatuation is the drive towards acquisition. within ancient cave paintings, are images of animals that would not only satisfy our hunger, but also satisfy our need to be proficient in the skills that lead to the acquisition. Many of these pictures have markings from spears thrown in practice or in superstitious ritual. The point is that creativity is the side effect of high level information processing of a nervous system in the grip of a pressing need, that has a meaning structure which gives platform to the unfolding.
Our creative ability is most pronounced when faced with some kind of pressured situation. Some danger, or pressing want or need sparks the demand for an answer. This arousal will compel the hardware of the brain into enter a mode that is more conducive to problem solving. Additionally, immersion in new experiences can spark spontaneous creative happenings.
Influence is in the background at all times. We would not be inventing novelties in a vacuum where we’ve had no prior experiences. Our creative outputs are tied to all the influence we’ve ever been subject to.
In ‘potentiality’ all creative objects exist. It is by luck that we are able to pull useful objects out of this abstract landscape. All creativity is deterministic, and is playing out exactly as it will based on the prior conditions of the universe. Things that we think might give resistance to determinism such as consciousness, randomness and quantum effects, are not actually separate from the unfolding and so play a part, however inexplicably. There must be a way that it works. The combined mysteries of consciousness, creativity and potentiality, as well as our belief in freedom, is a perfect storm of objective subjectivity. It may be that there is only one way that it can all play out. If this is true, then in a very real way, all of the creative products already exist in this moment fully formed. Creativity is like reaching for an object that exists at this moment but in the future, but I digress.
How does one optimize for creativity? Processing in the brain allows for pattern recognition and the ability fo free-associate in novel ways. This is going on all the time but is largely ignored because of the irrelevance of most of the associations, but over time the process hits on fortuitous combinations and will be recognized by conscious awareness. The creative idea can then be focused upon and inspected for its value. Our rumination is much like what is found in the dream state – it is an amalgamation of all the sensory and cognitive inputs of the most recent time line, which is processed by a pattern recognition cycle. Every now and then, the process generates a valuable invention.
Creativity is facilitated when a person can purposefully deconstruct reality. By using tools of skepticism, meditation, and philosophical deconstruction, a person can detach and become temporarily free from distraction. This freer state removes preconceived notions, mental objects, or conceptuality that get in the way of spontaneous creative pattern recognizing rumination. This is the void, from which all of our meaning and narrative arise, were we can test the limits of being and comprehensibility.
When considering the capacity for creativity we look at a persons openness to novel experience (which biological predisposition). But, just as important, if not more is the physical state of the creator, at least when considering creativity as good decision making. The improvement of luck and of creativity is found in the optimization of the machine that creates it. Adequate sleep, cardio-vascular exercise, clean nutrition and exclusion of intoxicants, habituating active meditation, intensive learning, seeking new and novel experiences, skill at the ability to deconstruct ideology, and a primary motivator, for example a love intrest with whom it is very important to make an impression, are some of the most fundamental factors in setting the conditions for creativity.
Creativity consists to a great degree on spitballing or throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks. It’s trial and error. Of all creative objects that pop into existence it is only a small number that are useful and noteworthy. So a creative individual is going to be producing more garbage than gold as they mine the ‘potentiality’. Skeptics are the counter to the creative person. They do not necessarily create anything besides objection to that which does not make sense. They might formulate a curated composition of ideas that have already been established. They can also use this edifice of conceptual establishment to check the reasonability of a creative product. However, too much ad hominem directed at the generator of creative objects can lead to a form of censorship that will result in stagnation.
Since creativity is deterministic, however high-level that phenomenon is, this means that artificial intelligence could be creative. In fact AI could be vastly more creative than a human being. Professional chess, go, and Starcraft 2 players learn by observing the new knowledge created by these modern AIs. While this knowledge is not exactly creative, it is nonetheless new, and given an amplification of this ability, the products of this newness are going to look very creative. It might not be long before AI becomes truly creative.
Imagine a creativity machine that combines preexisting images, concepts, actions etc. in some way, through mechanized rumination. The machine dreams/ruminates continually, but then some other program stands in judgement of the rumination garbage in search of nuggets of value. The judgement program would estimate which combinations are noteworthy. These curated potentials could then be examined by a second judge and a third and so on, refining a collection of novel creative objects. This might be directed at a particular problem or just let run without direction.
We need not hope or wait for an AI to achieve creativity beyond the individual human, as theoretically interesting as the concept of machine creativity is, we can build a biological creativity machine right now. Consider the collective creative potential of a large population that is highly interconnected with tools for real-time communication and feedback. On a large scale the spontaneous generation of creative objects get shared, compared, combined and rated via attraction/repulsion dynamics, and the best ideas rise to the top of consciousness and are integrated by the culture. From this new present condition, all nodes continue to create, better off for the interaction. Wisdom of crowds, can produce solutions for problems that are better than any individual could achieve on their own.
Well, this has ironically been a less than creative presentation about creativity. The phenomenon of creativity is very mysterious and deserves a deeper dive than this, and so this essay as well as all the previous essays on this blog will need to be re-written, with the addition of examples, analogies, and supporting facts and evidence. These essays have been sketches about how to think about art and the aspects of life and psychology that contribute to its meaning. Next post will probably be about art criticism.