He mentions the connection between creativity and 'play', which I think is spot on. We do this effortlessly as children and then it sort of gets 'bred out of us' as we get older and start developing more traditionally 'rational' skill sets and ways of thinking about the world.
This sense of play hit home for me when I was a late teen and bought a 4-track multitrack recorder in the mid-80's. I had no preconceived notion of a song I wanted to write/record. I simply plugged in my guitar and hit 'record' and laid down an idea. I may have had a few false starts but didn't sweat it. By itself it wasn't very interesting. I added a second track with the only goal of "it should work with the first track" and was surprised at how easy it was to achieve that goal. Suddenly, with the two tracks an idea began to emerge that wasn't present in the first track by itself. Rinse and repeat with the remaining 2 tracks and I had a musical idea that I never could've imagined I would have created.
I still use that same method to generate ideas today, and summon that same sense of 'play'. Of course the real work, much harder than creating, imo, is editing.
Also, the difference between children and adults when it comes to creativity is a bit deeper. I agree that it's bread out of us. Two semi-random examples:
- shaming kids for making mistakes or just doing things differently, but also
- just the mere fact that they're starting to learn how the world around them operates and responds to their actions,.
At the same time it's likely that children achieve it through different internal processes, without a strict split between divergent and convergent thinking demonstrated by CT scans.
Interesting. I was recently stuck trying to think of a new side project idea. I basically built all the stuff I wanted and now was in this territory of trying to find things to make.
I spent some days messing around with various ideas. How about data? How about games? How about... uh... physics simulations? But I can never force myself to make an idea that won't give me utility in life. My solution was to lay in my bed for a hour and a half, thinking about stuff. Really, anything. I got a good idea out of it that I'm now working on and excited to continue working on. And you know when you get a good idea, it sticks in your head.
Stephen King said it best: "My idea about a good idea is one that sticks around and sticks around and sticks around."
I agree that play is very important to creativity. However, the problem is how does one play? For an adult play does not come naturally... we have forgotten the craft. When I teach creativity, I encourage students to employ devices to release (or simulate?) play, most of which involve some form or other of applied accident. For example: finding ways to randomly select words, then finding ways to randomly combine those words.
Artists have employed such devices since forever. Leonardo DaVinci spoke about seeing landscapes in the stains on walls and faces in clouds.
This sense of play hit home for me when I was a late teen and bought a 4-track multitrack recorder in the mid-80's. I had no preconceived notion of a song I wanted to write/record. I simply plugged in my guitar and hit 'record' and laid down an idea. I may have had a few false starts but didn't sweat it. By itself it wasn't very interesting. I added a second track with the only goal of "it should work with the first track" and was surprised at how easy it was to achieve that goal. Suddenly, with the two tracks an idea began to emerge that wasn't present in the first track by itself. Rinse and repeat with the remaining 2 tracks and I had a musical idea that I never could've imagined I would have created.
I still use that same method to generate ideas today, and summon that same sense of 'play'. Of course the real work, much harder than creating, imo, is editing.