It's just problem solving

31 March 2015 Unknown 0 Comments

image by isu.edu

Someone commented to me that creativity is problem solving. I'm going to disagree … and then contradict myself at the end.

I don't think creativity is problem solving. There I said it. Step one is done.

The problem with that idea is that you assume there is a problem to begin with. When you are creating something, you start with nothing: an empty page, an empty canvas, empty space, or silence. There isn't anything to solve so it can't be about problem solving.

Now I'm going to contradict myself. It could be about problem solving.

Lots of times creativity doesn't just mean creating something from nothing. It also means innovating from something that already exists. So, in that sense of things, sure, creativity is problem solving.

And there's another reason that I'm wrong. Even when you are creating something from nothing, there is almost always a reason for you creating it. You are always trying to either entertain, or enhance people's lives, or change their behavior, or something. There's almost always a goal to your creation.

So, even though Pixar creates a movie from their minds and there's nothing that exists before that, their goal or problem-to-be-solved is "how to entertain people and make them have an incredibly emotional experience." So you could say that they are really just problem solving throughout.

So now you have my double-minded approach to this thought that creativity is problem solving. What do you think?