Creativity

Creativity is scarce because of censorship. Not in the usual sense of that word—the cops closing down a strip show, or some government official collecting and burning politically offensive books—but rather in the sense of “discouragement,” of telling those who have creative ideas that the ideas aren’t really interesting, that they aren’t sensible, ... See more

Everyone supposes—it’s built into the idea—that creativity is scarce. It doesn’t come around every day. But, since it’s a good thing, it needs to be nourished and given special care, so that we can have more of it. Experts give seminars in how to do that. Consultants advise clients on the special methods needed to re-organize their enterprises so a... See more

I said earlier that if we want to encourage creativity, we should just get out of its way. That was an ambiguous statement and I’d like to clear up some of the ambiguity. I will insist that creativity is not rare at all, which becomes clear once we identify the obstacles, organizational and personal, that get in its way.

Is creativity really scarce?... See more

our capacity for growth and creativity is not lost with a diagnosis of dementia.

The model was helpful—but only to an extent. They found that while AI improved the output of less creative writers, it made little difference to the quality of the stories produced by writers who were already creative.

one, criticizing someone is easy; two, creating something original is very hard; three, but somebody’s got to do it.

One of the most important aspects of these workbooks is the remarkable sense of process they provide—not only are the projects they’re concerned with in process, the books themselves are process, and as such unworked. This contrasts with the completed works, as well as with the name that underwrites them. In order to create something, Bergman had t... See more

To make something good, just do it. To make something great, just redo it, redo it, redo it. The secret to making fine things is in remaking them.

Creators pay with effort. They put in the work to create a product in the hopes the audience consumes and engages with it. Audience members, on the other side of this interaction, pay for this effort with attention.