The Amazing Things & Ideas - #112 – Creativity and personhood
Check out my interview with David D. Friedman. To categorize certain people as “creative” and others as “analytical” is a mistake. It implies that some people are innately less creative than others or that being creative is beyond their capabilities. To think of creativity as an ability utilized solely by an exceptional group of people engaging in the traditional arts is simply a misconception. Explanatory creativity is indeed a rare ability. As far as we know, only about 8 billion biological organisms (us humans) possess it in the universe. But it is not rare among people. Creativity is a fundamental aspect of personhood. The act of creating involves bringing something into existence that was previously absent. For a person, this could be as monumental as painting the Mona Lisa or inventing the airplane, or as straightforward as cooking a novel dish. Creativity is accessible to and employed by anyone who seeks to solve a problem, whether that problem is scientific, artistic, or even a simple, everyday moral decision about what activity to pursue next. From cave paintings to footprints on the Moon, these are all results of people applying individual creativity to the problems they face. The crucial thing is that people are free to solve these problems. Einstein developed his general theory of relativity not because someone forced him to but because he had a deep passion for solving problems in physics. Similarly, Beethoven composed his masterpieces out of a profound love for music. Had either been forced to learn the other’s field in an authority’s attempt to make them “well-rounded individuals” (as we see happening in current educational institutions), we might today be without the benefits of GPS or the beauty of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. The process of knowledge-creation—that happens by creative conjecture and criticism—is precious. It may well be the most significant thing in the cosmos. Coercion hampers this process. We must defend the freedom of the mind to be creative at all costs. Further reading: Brett Hall’s blog series on Critical and creative thinking Follow me on X @arjunkhemani. You can support this free newsletter here. I now also accept tips in Bitcoin. If you enjoy my podcast or newsletter and have the means, please consider sending some satoshis to this address: bc1q3vajy7e79080uzg5j7watdtl2h7ktqx9l7x8w8 |
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#111 – Some Quotes Against the State
Sunday, August 27, 2023
For this week's newsletter, I thought I would deviate from the usual format to share some quotes (and a poem) centered around a theme that has recently occupied my thoughts. Enjoy! On employing
#110 – On discipling children and towards a better childhood
Sunday, August 20, 2023
Childhood does not have to entail coercion.
#109 – The scale of creativity
Monday, August 14, 2023
Through understanding, we liberate ourselves.
#109 – The Constraints of Money
Sunday, August 6, 2023
We typically think of constraints as limiting factors to something we want to achieve. This conception is too narrow. Progress often comes from discovering constraints, and from further refining them.
#108 – The Meaning of It All by Richard Feynman; a summary
Sunday, July 30, 2023
Richard P. Feynman was one of the 20th century's most brilliant theoretical physicists and original thinkers. He all but rebuilt the theory of quantum electrodynamics. It was for this work that he
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