tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3195664823885405075.post486038129472523421..comments2023-09-26T04:17:33.460-04:00Comments on Speculative Diction: Creative Thinkingaesthetic.vigelantehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10599532539822234700noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3195664823885405075.post-328389588074100752010-11-10T10:52:54.730-05:002010-11-10T10:52:54.730-05:00I like this distinction between what's conside...I like this distinction between what's considered valuable to society, and what isn't (at one time or another). That's the key for me--asking "whose value, what value?" rather than just assuming that the valuation is somehow natural, or alternately that it can be apolitical and technical/objective.aesthetic.vigelantehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10599532539822234700noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3195664823885405075.post-37023229215621121462010-11-07T21:32:48.881-05:002010-11-07T21:32:48.881-05:00I was mulling on this during a seven hour car ride...I was mulling on this during a seven hour car ride. And I asked myself this question: which of the two Simpson's children is the most creative, Lisa or Bart? In terms of possible contribution to society, it would be Lisa. She gets the good grades, plays the sax, has ambition, and tenacity. Bart disregards authority, doesn't care about school, aspires to virtually nothing, and reads comic books. But it is usually Bart who comes up with plans. He is the one who you could consider to be really the innovator as he is continually questioning and upsetting the status quo in truly original ways. But his plans never quite work unless his sister is involved. And vice-versa. Lisa does indeed want to change the world, but it requires he brother's expertise in mayhem for her to be truly able to make her voice heard. <br /><br />So, if we want to look that them as a model of creativity, we need knowledge and tenacity, imagination and the confidence to put your imagination into action. And it completely has to remove economics from the equation. Too many students are doing things only because it will look good on a C.V. It is when we let go of all that that we can get where we want or need to be. IMHO.Lee Skallerup Bessette, PhDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12243750156552824701noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3195664823885405075.post-33495339294037094232010-11-07T09:11:15.543-05:002010-11-07T09:11:15.543-05:00I think it's hard to get away from two of the ...I think it's hard to get away from two of the aspects of the definition of creativity--newness, and usefulness--and I have those elements in my own "definition" as well. I guess then we have to break it down even further and ask what kinds of newness and usefulness are being sought after most avidly, and why. That's where the point about obsession with the economy comes in...when a policy paper contains the term "innovation" I don't assume the term includes all kinds of newness, just the ones considered valuable in terms of developing a certain kind of economy (predictably enough). Not sure the difference between "innovation" and "novelty" though in that context.aesthetic.vigelantehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10599532539822234700noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3195664823885405075.post-66524677887642538942010-11-07T03:37:14.305-05:002010-11-07T03:37:14.305-05:00I think you're right, Melonie, in pointing out...I think you're right, Melonie, in pointing out that Robinson's measurable notion of creativity plays into the notion of the "homo economicus". If one just looks at the word "create" it means simply "produce", going back to its Latin roots. <br /><br />We like to tack on the meaning "new" today, but even there we must remember that we are not setting a very high bar on human activity if we require it to be creative. Evolutionary processes are creative, and they are expressions of the interaction with some information structure with random change.<br /><br />Creativity itself is only useful to us, once we've passed the other minimal bar of being able to feed ourselves and live commodiously, if it serves higher and nobler goals, like beauty and goodness. Since we do have to meet that first condition of keeping body and soul together, creativity is important to foster and, in the end, it probably has more to do with having a good meal at the end of the day than it does with the appreciation of (or even the "production" of) Keat's Ode on a Grecian Urn.larshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17917649311890379259noreply@blogger.com