Human creativity is responsible for many of our greatest works of art. Michelangelo’s David. Anything by David Lynch or David Byrne. Music, paintings, sculpture, film. These things can connect with us in different ways at different times in our lives. Even if you don’t think of yourself as a creative person, you’re likely someone who at least appreciates the creations of other people. That’s why it can feel wrong that a machine could be capable of the same creativity we have.
But what exactly is so special about human creativity?
Losing it
Animals and children make creativity look easy. Children are “independent arbiters of significance”.1 They invent stories, poems and riddles without trying. Animals are less clever but can be spontaneously creative too, inventing new games, dances and songs. We could call this natural creativity.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to last. It’s more likely we are surprised by creativity when it decides to tap us on the shoulder. One morning, in that drowsy, hypnagogic state, I briefly saw a poem about wasps. The words weren’t mine, or anything I had read before. Still half-conscious, I attempted to edit and add to the poem. But with every effort I made to improve it, the poem got worse. This is normal creativity. Judgement, over-thinking and all the other delights of the left-hemisphere leave us feeling dissatisfied with our creations.
The Source
That wasp poem was weird, and I have no idea where it came from. Creativity is mysterious like that. Even Mozart admitted that he had “nothing to do with”2 his best ideas.
“Thoughts crowd into my mind as easily as you could wish…Those which please me, I keep in my head and hum them… Once I have my theme, another melody comes, linking itself to the first one, in accordance with the needs of the composition as a whole: the counterpoint, the part of each instrument, and all these melodic fragments at last produce the entire work.”
Mozart and other masters are examples of the heights of human creativity. We could call this abnormal creativity. It can almost feel alien to us mere mortals. If we’re sipping inspiration through a straw, people like Carl Jung or Walt Disney are wading around in a lake of it. But even if they might have more of it, it’s the same stuff. Nothing special.
Most of us aren’t Mozart. And most of us have lost our natural creativity. So it’s no wonder we are irritated to hear about a machine winning art competitions. We shouldn’t be. Creativity might be a mysterious thing, but it’s always in us. And it’s not special, it’s natural. Children and animals are constantly pointing out how simple and easy and joyful it can be to create. We really can’t help but be creative. We just need to stop getting in our own way.
So let’s stop making creativity special, and start making things again.
Buddha Bike 