avatarJason Frasca

Summary

The article questions the continued use of ancient Greek models of creativity, which are deemed anti-creative due to their focus on ideation and planning rather than embracing the dynamic, emergent nature of reality and creativity.

Abstract

The article "Why Use Models of Creativity That Are Anti-Creative? | Emergent Futures Lab" challenges the conventional Greek-derived creativity model that emphasizes insight, ideation, planning, and making. It argues that this model is outdated because it is based on the ancient Greek belief in a closed universe where humans could only discover and copy pre-established truths. In contrast, modern understanding recognizes reality as an open, dynamic, and creative process where genuine novelty is constantly emerging. The article suggests that the traditional "Insight — Ideate — Plan — Make" approach is irrelevant for fostering true creativity, as ideation is inherently conservative and the truly new is initially unthinkable. It calls for a reevaluation of our fundamental assumptions about reality, creativity, and human potential to develop new creativity approaches that align with an emergent view of reality and human cognition, which is not confined to the brain but is enactive and participatory.

Opinions

  • The ancient Greek model of creativity is still prevalent today but is at odds with the dynamic nature of reality.
  • The Greeks did not believe in creativity as we understand it today; they thought humans could only uncover pre-existing truths.
  • Modern insights reveal that reality is creative and that novelty emerges continuously.
  • Ideation is seen as a conservative process, and true innovation often comes from unthinkable places, making the traditional model irrelevant for creativity.
  • The article suggests that we need to move beyond the Greek model to embrace a more accurate and effective understanding of creativity.
  • Creativity is an emergent process that humans can participate in, and it is not limited to the brain but involves the entire being—embodied, embedded, extended, enactive, and affective.
  • Novel ideas tend to emerge late in the creative process, emphasizing the importance of action (doing) over planning (knowing) in creativity.
  • The article encourages questioning the legacy of Greek thought to foster a more open and dynamic approach to creativity.

Why Use Models of Creativity That Are Anti-Creative? | Emergent Futures Lab

Why do we use models of creativity that are anti-creative?

Here’s what we know:

The ancient Greeks laid out a plan for creativity that we still follow.

The problem — Greeks did not believe that creativity existed.

They believed they lived in a closed universe, and that humans were given insight into the pre-established truth which we should then copy.

This led to a discovery and ideation focused model:

Insight — Ideate — Plan — Make

Today we know otherwise: reality is dynamic, open and creative. And we understand that genuine novelty is possible and is coming into being all the time.

We also know that ideation is inherently conservative and the new will always be at first unthinkable.

These two facts make the whole “Insight — Ideate — Plan — Make” approach irrelevant to creativity (it is still useful for other things).

So why do we have so many frameworks for creativity and innovation that still follow the anti-creative models of the ancient Greeks?

Other creativity approaches exist and more are possible — it just requires that we question our fundamental assumptions about reality, creativity and what it is to be human that have become so central to the western tradition.

That might sound daunting but a good starting point would begin with these concepts:

Reality is an open, dynamic and emergent process

Creativity is an ongoing process that is occurring everywhere: novelty is an emergent process that we can participate in.

Humans are enactive beings (embodied, embedded, extended, enactive and affective). Thus thinking and human focused creativity processes cannot be reduced to the brain.

Novel ideas always emerge late in any human focused creative process. Doing novelty proceeds knowing novelty

How do you sidestep the legacy of the Greeks?‍‍

Originally published at https://emergentfutureslab.com.

Greek Mythology
Creativity
Framework
Innovation
Design Thinking
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