What is Creativity?

Design, craft, construct, modify and remodel; we can’t help ourselves. Why not? What is it that possesses me to want to “do” something? My wife calls it “the itch,” as she snickers at my inability to just leave things be. (For the record, she can’t either.) In Genesis 1:27 God states that He created us in His own image. If we are modeled after a fervent designer, it is impossible that we would not ourselves have a similar desire.

Creativity is a great enigma; some say they have it, others deny the ability. I think it boils down to a lack of definition.

The ever-changing Wikipedia says:

Creativity can be defined as the main tool to develop innovation. Although for many people, the word most immediately conjures associations with artistic endeavors and writing, it has also been linked to science as far back as the muses of Ancient Greece. Today, creativity forms the core activity of a growing section of the global economy—the creative industries—generating wealth through the creation and exploitation of intellectual property or the provision of creative services.

Perhaps this is what they are thinking about. Britannica Online takes a more concise approach:

Creativity is the ability to make or otherwise bring into existence something new, whether a new solution to a problem, a new method or device, or a new artistic object or form.

It is interesting to note that Britannica Online also mentions a study that shows that intelligence has no definitive correlation with creativity. I am not sure how I feel about that.

This article by Jonathan Byrd takes this idea even further by actually outlining a link between creativity and psychoses. The article is an interesting read even though I disagree (and so do I.)

Can we clarify? I don’t know…

Again, I think we have an inherent desire to construct. Whether that be a thought or object is irrelevant; we search for ways to put together the materials that surround us. It is exciting to see something come from nothing. It is “the itch” to play.

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The itch starts early. Who says it has to end?


In the "Computers will take over the world" category:
Here is an article at Mercury News about artificial intelligence and creativity:

Stephen Thaler's Creativity Machine
According to Thaler, computers need a little distraction to break from the systematic step-by-step thinking that prevents creativity. An interesting quote from the story:

Supporters say the technology is the best simulation of what goes on in human brains, and the first truly thinking machine. Others say it is something far more sinister -- the beginning of "Terminator'' technology, in which self-aware machines could take over the world.

Interesting, but until my computer can repair itself from a “blue screen of death” I am not too worried.