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Introduction
Professions and educations need a new discipline called Creativity. We need
creativity when we want to create something. Creating should be understood in
relation to managing. To manage everyday life, work or school the human brain
builds patterns (De Bono, Kvantefysikken - mnsterteorien). Patterns are essential for
us to cope with everyday situations. Patterns help us save energy and time and to keep
informed about our surroundings with a minimum of effort. BUT there is a backside
to it. Patterns also control our perception and thinking, which makes it difficult to
perceive information in new ways, to conceptualize different and to think and do
different in a given situation. To get new perspectives or new solutions we need
creativity, which means to cut across the (artificial) boundaries in our pattern
organizing brain and body. Subjects and professions are results of structuring patterns.
Creativity is to ignore these patterns and to cut across the boundaries between them.
In this paper creativity is defined as the unlimited use of knowledge in thinking and
doing. Knowledge includes information, expertise, know-how or whatever sources
our thoughts or action might have.
knowledge. If we want to do something new, we need ideas about what and how to do
it. Ideas are building stones of knowledge, which can be played with in a creative
process that continues until the desired solution is obvious. Creativity is to play with
knowledge in the seeking for other possibilities than we already are aware of.
Creativity is defined as unlimited use of knowledge. This definition implies that
creativity is the mean to cut across the limiting boundaries of subjects, professions,
scientific
or
not
scientific
knowledge,
true
or
lie,
understandings
or
misunderstandings. Creativity is the only thinking that uses and combines all the
(diverse) knowledge available to ex. a problem solving team. Creativity is the
discipline of applying knowledge across all professional, social and cultural
boundaries,
Barron, Guilford and Simonton find that creative people have an interest in fields
different from their own.v, vi, vii Having an interest in a field different from ones own
automatically gives knowledge about this second field. Understanding two (or more)
fields increases the chance of being able to use knowledge from the one field to solve
problems in the other field. In other words: you need knowledge from different fields
in order to combine knowledge. Guildford continues this line in his assessment of
creative ability through a number of variables. One of these variables is the ability to
produce different types of ideas.viii Different kinds of ideas are based on different
kinds of knowledge; eventually this gives a need for having a pool of different
fields of knowledge. If you need a variety of ideas, you will need a variety of
knowledge to develop these ideas from. Hausman even goes a bit further arguing that
to be truly creative, there must be an element of radical newnessix. How do you turn
knowledge into different and radical new ideas?
In 1903 Henry Ford set off with his production of the Ford automobiles.x Ford was
persistent to produce radical cheaper cars than his competitors. How do you do that?
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If he had used knowledge from the automobile industry he would not be able to
become better than the competitor only by running faster or having lower salaries.
However, one day Ford investigated a Connecticut clock manufacturer and saw how
they produced their watches on moving industrial production lines.xi Eventually he
got the idea of producing automobiles in a similar way, with the result of dropping the
cost of producing a car to of competitor, thus making him a world leader in
automobile production with his assembly line. The knowledge for this idea involving
radical newness came from another field of knowledge than automobile production the Swiss watch industry. Different and radical new ideas appear when a field is
injected with knowledge from another field. Guilfords, Simontons, Hausmans and
Barrons understandings are very much in line with the unlimited use of knowledge.
Johansson recently made a worldwide study of how world-changing ideas have been
developed by their idea-developers. He finds that it happens at the intersection of
knowledge from all disciplines, all cultures and all domains. Creativity occurs when
the barriers between the disciplines, cultures and domains are removed. Johansson
defines the intersection as the place where it is possible to use knowledge from one
discipline, culture or domain to develop ideas for problems related to another
discipline, culture or domain. He finds that only in the intersection will true new
arise.xii
Dawkins explain creativity as the imitation of one meme by another meme.xiii He
defines memes as: ...tunes, ideas, catch-phrases, clothes fashion, ways of making
pots or of building arches.xiv In his understanding of memes in relation to creativity,
Dawkins, focuses on the imitation from one meme to another e.g. by imitating a way
of making pots in order to build arches in a new way. This is again to break down
the standard limitations that exist between memes.
Mick Pearce tore down these barriers in 1996 in his designing of Eastgate in
Zimbabwe. He used the meme of how termites cool down their towerlike mounds of
mud and dirt as an alternative solution to air-conditioning. By doing so, Eastgate,
spends 90 % less energy to keep cool, compared to other similar buildings.xv Again,
the unlimited use of knowledge across disciplines, cultures, domains and memes is at
the core of Dawkins and Johanssons theories.
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Dietrich argues that creative thinking involves the ability to break conventional rules
of thinking.xvi This alone gives the assumptions that you break down the limitations
created by conventional rules of thinking. Dietrich continues that; combining already
stored knowledge elements produces new ideas.xvii Here he brings in the ability to
work across different kinds of knowledge, thus making the term of unlimited use of
knowledge even stronger.
Altshuller found... that 95% of new problems have already been solved - probably
many times overxxv And he continues that you most likely will find the solution in
industries and technologies which you do not have knowledge about. In the 70 and
80s he invented TRIZ a matrix system that link across fields of technology and
across industries in order to find the best solution to your problem.xxvi Altshullers
findings are directly in line with the unlimited use of knowledge across industries and
technologies.
For a creative approach the ideas for solutions are based on knowledge about
everything, because there is no limitation to only one field. The use of knowledge cuts
across disciplines, cultures, domains, memes, elements, products, objects, concepts,
industries, technologies, rules as well as directions of thinking. This is indeed
knowledge that is used in an unlimited way.
What is knowledge?
The term of knowledge needs to be explained a bit further when it is put in relation to
unlimited use of knowledge.
The use of knowledge goes across disciplines, cultures, domains, memes, elements,
products, objects, concepts, rules as well as directions of thinking. Looking at
unlimited use of knowledge, there is no difference and no reason to distinguish
between different kinds of knowledge and experience. The knowledge gained from
having a hobby or an interest is just as much worth as the knowledge gained from
having an education or a job. Knowledge is not something that has to be proved as
true in a scientific manner or otherwise before it can be used. Therefore knowledge in
this sense can be gained from a profession, an education, a sport, a hobby, a holiday, a
day out shopping, a random conversation, a dream, a fantasy, a lie or whatever source
a thought might have. Ideas contains different kinds of knowledge. One example is
that what Eliot said about his masterpiece called The Waste Land: Although the
poem may seems like a single product, it was actually a collection of hundreds of
different concept combinationsxxvii In the next part the creative process will be
analysed further. The following dialog is very much inspired by Michael Micalkos
taking a thought walkxxviii
In Alaska, during ice storms along the coastlines, there are major problems
concerning removing ice from power lines.
A) There are a lot of bears in Alaska, maybe we can use them somehow.
B) Yes, we could make them climb the poles, thus making the power lines
vibrate, so that the ice will fall off.
A) If we place fresh meat on the top of each pole, this will attract bears, and make
them climb the pole to get the meat.
B) Yes, and lets bring the fresh meat in helicopters to the top of the poles.
A) Then we need stockpiles of gasoline in the area for the helicopter.
B) What about pouring gasoline on the wire and burn the ice away?
A) We could wrap a hot wire around the wire to heat it?
B) Hey, what about to let the helicopters hover over the power lines. Their
hovering will vibrate the ice off the lines.
What they are saying could sound like it is just playing with thoughts, however these
thoughts are filled with extensive knowledge from particular fields of knowledge.
Conclusion
Professions, subjects, practices and even sciences consists of patterns of thoughts and
doing. They are very much in line with our pattern behavioral brain and body. The
main effort of patterns is that they help us to save resources like time and energy.
Ones we learned that crossing a highway on foot is risky business, we use the
pedestrian crossing in the future. Patterns help us to manage both everyday life and
professional life. But if we want to create something new, the same patterns turn into
our worst enemy. Creativity is the business of creating across the established patterns.
Creativity is to use all our knowledge unlimited of patterns. To do that involves two
major difficulties.
The first difficulty is that the patterns control what we are able to perceive and
understand. The patterns control our eyes together with our thinking and doing.
The second difficulty is that ignoring the patterns, crossing patterns, is recognized as
bad behavior. This is true in the school, at the pub and in the scientific community.
Methods like discussions and analyses are designed to work within patterns only
allowing limited use of knowledge, and they perform badly in crossing patterns. The
main reason for that, is that they are based on values and rules that take things like
logic, knowledge hierarchies and borders between disciplines for granted.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Popper, k. 1945 the open society and its enemies. 1ed. London Routledge.
All kind of knowledge need to be accepted until they can be proven false.
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xxiv
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