The creative stimulus in Nature can be highly attributed to external factors. Any living organism in isolation is merely a chemical reaction which if subjected to the same stimulus will almost always produce similar outcomes. However with the theories of Natural selection, nature has sought after series of Improvements in organisms through the Evolutionary cycle. Every strand of evolution is possible only through meticulous recording of historic success and failures in our Genetic DNA. The future generations use this genetic information as a baseline to evolve further. Hence Evolution forms the Primary 'Intention' for all living beings to be different, creative, and improve in order to survive.
We can see this form of Natural Creativity in many shapes, forms, smells, sounds and colors in Nature. Flowers are one of the best examples of Nature's painting. Although they are merely an attraction for the Insects and bees to help them pollinate. The roots and branches of a tree grow their network beautifully above and below the grounds. This pattern however is just to capture the maximum water, minerals and sunlight. Fruits develop a strong taste and smell to attract the Animals to eat them creating an opportunity for the seed to grow.
In animals and birds too, the 'intent' to reproduce delivers the most vibrant and beautiful peacocks. The scales and colors on reptiles and Chameleons are exquisitely crafted for them to hunt or prevent from being hunted. Communication in animals and birds are known to create some of the sweetest symphonies.
The examples of Nature's creative streaks are endless and fascinating. This 'intent' is what triggers Natural creativity and Humans are no different. The Creative explosions happened in Humans with the discovery / invention of tools which fostered the Creative mind. These Explosions usually succeeded with drastic revolutions in Human lifestyle and societies. We will look at these creative explosions starting from begining of Human Evolution
1st Wave of Creative Explosion - The Symbol
The evolution of Human creativity is slightly exponential (in Human Timescale) when compared to other living organisms. Even Chimpanzees are known to use stones and tools to open fruits and coconuts. But humans went ahead to create weapons to hunt, farm the crops and create a fire. However, one of the biggest breakthroughs which seperates humans from all other species on the planet is the 'creation of symbols'. It was when a hunter gatherer realized that marking on the walls of a cave is not just information to others but passed on to generations altogether. The symbols found in many pre-historic civilizations are a good example of ancient cognition that simply took humans in a different league compared to other Animals. Using the power of Symbols, humans were now following Nature to record the history and learnings, not in the genetics but through a more artificial form. This way, every human born is able to learn and understand their current cognitive maturity and use his/her own creativity to further expedite the evolutionary path up ahead!
2nd Wave of Creative Explosion - Language
Another breakthrough widely accepted by anthrepologists is the Language and communication. One of the basis of human creativity was to build on ideas of each other. In this quest for communication, the Language was born. This let humans speak out their ideas, discuss them, learn from past mistakes, experience the beauty of the world, understand the universe, sing songs with music and explore their emotions. As humans went through major events in time, they started writing stories and poems which further resulted formation of moral principles that we live by today. The society and its values are formed and communicated through ancient scriptures that define what is good, bad, rules, duties, spirituality and superstition. With this construct, humans developed need to reason, inquisitiveness and drive to find out the purpose of life. It is this drive to know the truth about their Existence is what truly made them realize they are at a higher Intelligence compared to all other living species on Earth.
3rd Wave of Creative Explosion - Paper
One of the primary tools to express ideas from the brain to something physical was Paper. For more than 2000 years and even till date, paper is the most widely used tool to express art, literature, laws, maps, history and communication. The evolution of photographs first started on Paper with various portraits. Humans learn to express their emotions with creative use ink to form abstract art which is a complete subject in itself. Throughout the rennaissance, creativity was measured in art for which we have many great examples till today. There were great scientific and mathematical breakthroughs that were part of medieval paintings which became stepping stones for innovations in study of human physiology and medicine.
4th Wave of Creative Explosion - Society
The society and social relationships were another big tools for humans to explore creative solutions. The creative use of earth and earthen materials resulted in birth of Architecture and buildup of homes, towns and cities. As a means to keep themselves warm, humans invented clothing which soon turned into creative fashion with accessories and jwellery. Our inherent territorial nature gave rise to several Wars through history most of which have been won through creativity. Humans form a society living together which gives birth to Culture. Culture in itself is a big tool to invent creative food, clothing, views and lifestyle.
5th Wave of Creative Explosion - Barter and Trade
One of the most astonishing realizations we made during our early days of civilization was the Barter system. This seperated us from the hunter gatherers and ensured that we pick up several tasks for collective benefit of Community. The Business and trade ensured that we as humans creatively sell our products and services. This was very much evident during the Industrial age and Green revolution. In this period humans made advanced creative strides in scaling up large scale production. Transportation is another sector which grew along with industrialization where we saw manufacturers creatively use all possible channels air, water, rail and land. Derived from this, there is massive R&D today which goes in Personal automotive segment to ideate, build and scale some of the most advanced cars in the planet.
6th Wave of Creative Explosion - Camera
Ever since humans were able to enact stories, they use it to express their imaginative prowess. From Shakespear's plays to Christopher Nolan's Movies, they are truly remarkable achievements for creative showcase of human thought. Photo / Videography is one of the creative tools that has the widest reach in the globe. To play with lights and shadows was on similar lines as paint and canvas in the medeaval period. However, the number of variables and subjects that can be used with a camera was massively higher which meant creative reproduction of the scene and more vivid impact on the audience compared to any other art form.
7th Wave of Creative Explosion - Electronics, Computer
As stated in the Theory of Innovation by Joseph Schumpeter, each of the Technological waves keep getting shorter as time progresses. This means our Innovation timelines are always exponential. This was very evident in fast, widespread adoption of Electricity and Electronics. Computers and Mobiles could be considered the inventions of the millenium as there is no other tool which has enabled millions of people across the globe with a platform to showcase their work. Right from rocket science to cloud computing, the breakthroughs that humans have seen with these enablers have been immense.
8th Wave of Creative Explosion - Internet
One of the primary ways in which humans can be creative is using their ability to stay connected. It is for this reason, the Creative quotient of say, a tribal in a remote village will be less than that of a well connected social townsfolk. Internet not only gives exposure to the new fashions, electronics, cars, music, architecture but also lets others simulate and add their flavor on top of it to create infinite possibilities of unique experiences.
9th Wave of Creative Explosion - Generative AI
The advent of Generative AI is comparable to invention of 'The Symbol'. Hunter gatherers used the Symbol (by mimicing Nature) to record the past and use that data to builf on their ideas. Similarly, Generative AI uses the Large amounts of past data to build on Creative ideas. The important thing to note here is both humans and machines have a chain of thought. So essentially nothing is random here and both are building on their creative abilities based on cognition of historic data. The extent of creativity depends on quality/quantity of data available. This is similar to the Tribals example stated above. However, the creativity in today's Gen AI models are all driven by humans while AI is just generating the outputs. However it is not far when Machines start recognizing their cognitive abilities and initiate their Creative streaks without the need for any Humans.
Generative Creativity has been heavily criticized by people for its lack of authenticity and artist inspired creations. But don't we humans do the same thing? The basis for our creativity is hidden in our past learnings. The Inspirations and Experiences are the inception to a creative brain. Without these external stimuli, our brains are just an isolated chemical reaction. Interestingly, traditional AI was always considered a mere isolated reaction which always gives a given, predictable output. Today we are at an inflection point when the Generative AI starts to understand dynamic and real time information to provide more and more Living outcomes!
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