Exploding the Creativity Myth

A proposal that we think about digital technologies such as machine learning not in terms of artificial intelligence but as artificial communication.Algorithms that work with deep learning and big data are getting so much better at doing so many things that it makes us uncomfortable. How can a device know what our favorite songs are, or what we should write in an email? Have machines become too smart? In Artificial Communication, Elena Esposito argues that drawing this sort of analogy between algorithms and human intelligence is misleading. If machines contribute to social intelligence, it will not be because they have learned how to think like us but because we have learned how to communicate with them. Esposito proposes that we think of “smart” machines not in terms of artificial intelligence but in terms of artificial communication.To do this, we need a concept of communication that can take into account the possibility that a communication partner may be not a human being but an al

One of today's most widely read philosophers considers the shift in violence from visible to invisible, from negativity to excess of positivity.Some things never disappear -- violence, for example. Vi

Many books explain what is known about the universe. This book investigates what cannot be known. Rather than exploring the amazing facts that science, mathematics, and r

A comprehensive overview of OpenMP, the standard application programming interface for shared memory parallel computing—a reference for students and professionals.

In this philosophical exploration of creativity, Irving Singer describes the many different types of creativity and their varied manifestations within and across all the arts and sciences. Singer's ap

The stages of the creative process--from "unlearning" to beginning again--seen through examples from the practice of artists, architects, poets, and others. Although each instance of creativity is sin

This volume offers a comprehensive overview of the latest neuroscientific approaches to the scientific study of creativity. In chapters that progress logically from neurobiological fundamentals to sys

Although each instance of creativity is singular and specific, Kyna Leski tells us, the creative process is universal. Artists, architects, poets, inventors, scientists, and others all navigate the sa

This volume offers a comprehensive overview of the latest neuroscientific approachesto the scientific study of creativity. In chapters that progress logically from neurobiologicalfundamentals to syste

Philosophical reflections on creativity in science, humanities, and human experience as a whole.

When Jean-Pierre Vernant first published Myth and Thought among the Greeks in 1965,it transformed the field of ancient Greek scholarship, calling forth a new way to think about Greekmyth and thought.

In this original and provocative study of computational creativity in music, David Cope asks whether computer programs can effectively model creativity—and whether computer programs themselves

In this rich examination of how we inherit and transform myths, Hans Blumenbergcontinues his study of the philosophical roots of the modern world. Work on Myth is in five parts.The first two analyze t

How the history of art begins with the myth of the barbarian invasion-the romantic fragmentation of classical eternity. The history of art, argues Eric Michaud, begins with the romantic myth of the

In Windows and Mirrors: Interaction Design, Digital Art, and the Myth ofTransparency, Jay David Bolter and Diane Gromala argue that, contrary to Donald Norman's famousdictum, we do not always want our

This first book by the author of Zen and the Brain examines the role of chance in the creative process. James Austin tells a personal story of the ways in which persistence, chance, and creativity interact in biomedical research; the conclusions he reaches shed light on the creative process in any field.Austin shows how, in his own investigations, unpredictable events shaped the outcome of his research and brought about novel results. He then goes beyond this story of serendipity to propose a new classification of the varieties of chance, drawing on his own research and examples from the history of science--including the famous accidents that led Fleming to the discovery of penicillin. Finally, he explores the nature of the creative process, considering not only the environmental and neurophysiological correlates of creativity but also the role of intuition in both scientific discoveries and spiritual quests. This updated MIT Press paperback edition includes a new introduction and rece

A multidisciplinary introduction to the field of computational creativity, analyzing the impact of advanced generative technologies on art and music.As algorithms get smarter, what role will computers

An authority on creativity introduces us to AI-powered computers that are creating art, literature, and music that may well surpass the creations of humans.Today's computers are composing music that s

An authority on creativity introduces us to AI-powered computers that are creating art, literature, and music that may well surpass the creations of humans.Today's computers are composing music that s

A secret history of the garage as a space of creativity, from its invention by Frank Lloyd Wright to its use by start-ups and garage bands.Frank Lloyd Wright invented the garage when he moved the auto

The world of Twitterbots, from botdom's greatest hits to bot construction to the place of the bot in the social media universe.Twitter offers a unique medium for creativity and curiosity for humans an

In this book, Edward Ashford Lee makes a bold claim: that the creators of digital technology have an unsurpassed medium for creativity. Technology has advanced to the point where progress seems limite

This volume contributes to a current debate within the psychology of thought that has wide implications for our ideas about creativity, decision making, and economic behavior. The essays focus on the

When we play the ancient and noble game of chess, we grapple with ideas abouthonesty, deceitfulness, bravery, fear, aggression, beauty, and creativity, which echo (or allow usto depart from) the attit

An acclaimed philosopher suggests that the art of living well employs the same principles as those that exist in all artistic creativity.

When we play the ancient and noble game of chess, we grapple with ideas about honesty, deceitfulness, bravery, fear, aggression, beauty, and creativity, which echo (or allow us to depart from) the at

Using the liminality of design—its uneasy position between creativity and commerce—to explore the network economy.

Balkan. Somewhere between a tragedy and a myth, a place and a condition, the term isperhaps best understood as a metaphor. It has been used and abused in academia by proponents ofopposing political vi

Virtual Music is about artificial creativity. Focusing on the author's Experiments inMusical Intelligence computer music composing program, the author and a distinguished group ofexperts discuss many

As one of our highest expressions of thought and creativity, music has always been a difficult realm to capture, model, and understand. The connectionist paradigm, now beginning to provide insights in

Most writing on cyberculture is dominated by two almost mutually exclusive visions:the heroic image of the male outlaw hacker and the utopian myth of a gender-free cyberworld. Reloadoffers an alternat

In the first century BC, Vitruvius Pollio narrated a myth of the origins of dwelling. In a forest clearing, previously isolated and savage people gathered about the embers of a dying fire; from this g

As one of our highest expressions of thought and creativity, music has always been a difficult realm to capture, model, and understand. The connectionist paradigm, now beginning to provide insights in

How hacking cultures drive contemporary capitalism and the future of innovation.In Resistance to the Current, Johan Söderberg and Maxigas examine four historical case studies of hacker movements and their role in shaping the twenty-first-century’s network society. Based on decades of field work and analysis, this intervention into current debates situates an exploding variety of hacking practices within the contradictions of capitalism. Depoliticized accounts of computing cultures and collaborative production miss their core driver, write Söderberg and Maxigas: the articulation of critique and its recuperation into innovations. Drawing on accounts of building, developing, and running community wireless networks, 3D printers, hackerspaces, and chat protocols, the authors develop a theoretical framework of critique and recuperation to examine how hackers―who have long held a reputation for being underground rebels―transform their outputs from communal, underground experiments to commerci

Stories from the ER: a doctor shows how empathy, creativity, and imagination are the cornerstones of clinical care.To be an emergency room doctor is to be a professional listener to stories. Each patient presents a story; finding the heart of that story is the doctor’s most critical task. More technology, more tests, and more data won’t work if doctors get the story wrong. Empathy, creativity, and imagination are the cornerstones of clinical care. In Tornado of Life, ER physician Jay Baruch offers a series of short, powerful, and affecting essays that capture the stories of ER patients in all their complexity and messiness. Patients come to the ER with lives troubled by scales of misfortune that have little to do with disease or injury. ER doctors must be problem-finders before they are problem-solvers. Cheryl, for example, whose story is a chaos narrative of “and this happened, and then that happened, and then, and then and then and then,” tells Baruch she is "stuck in a tornado of li

An alternative history of art in Berlin, detaching artistic innovation from art world narratives and connecting it instead to collective creativity and social solidarity.In pre- and post-reunification Berlin, socially engaged artists championed collective art making and creativity over individual advancement, transforming urban space and civic life in the process. During the Cold War, the city’s state of exception invited artists on both sides of the Wall to detour from artistic tradition; post-Wall, art became a tool of resistance against the orthodoxy of economic growth. In Free Berlin, Briana Smith explores the everyday peculiarities, collective joys, and grassroots provocations of experimental artists in late Cold War Berlin and their legacy in today’s city.These artists worked intentionally outside the art market, believing that art should be everywhere, freed from its confinement in museums and galleries. They used art as a way to imagine new forms of social and creative life. Sm

Why today’s complex problems demand a radically new way of thinking―one in which art, technology, and science converge. Today’s complex problems demand a radically new way of thinking―one in which art, technology, and science converge to expand our creativity and augment our insight. Creativity must be combined with the ability to execute; the innovators of the future will have to understand this balance and manage such complexities as climate change and pandemics. The place of this convergence is the Nexus. In this provocative and visually striking book, Julio Mario Ottino and Bruce Mau offer a guide for navigating the intersections of art, technology, and science. The Nexus brings together word and image to prepare us―individuals and organizations alike―for the challenges and opportunities of the twenty-first century. Compelling historic examples illuminate the present, from the Renaissance, when the domains were one, to the twentieth century, with intense, collective creative out

An exploration of social media–imposed pressure on new mothers: How the supposed safe havens of online mommy groups have become rife with aggression and groupthink.Many mothers today turn to social media for parenting advice, joining online mothers’ groups on Facebook and elsewhere. But the communities they find in these supposed safe havens can be rife with aggression, peer pressure, and groupthink―insisting that only certain practices are “best,” “healthiest,” “safest” (and mandatory). In this book, Jessica Clements and Kari Nixon debunk the myth of “optimal motherhood”―the idea that there is only one right answer to parenting dilemmas, and that optimal mothers must pursue perfection. In fact, Clements and Nixon write, parenting choices are not binaries, and the scientific findings touted by mommy groups are neither clear cut nor prescriptive. Clements and Nixon trace contemporary ideas of optimal motherhood to the nineteenth-century “Cult of True Womanhood,” which viewed women in te

The importance of telling new climate stories―stories that center the persistence of life itself, that embrace comedy and radical hope.“How dare you?” asked teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg at the United Nations in 2019. How dare the world’s leaders fiddle around the edges when the world is on fire? Why is society unable to grasp the enormity of climate change? In Beyond Climate Breakdown, Peter Friederici writes that the answer must come in the form of a story, and that our miscomprehension of the climate crisis comes about because we have been telling the wrong stories. These stories are pervasive; they come from long narrative traditions, sanctioned by capitalism, Hollywood, and social media, and they revolve around a myth: that the nation exists primarily as a setting for a certain kind of economic activity. Stories are how we make sense of the world and our place in it. The story that “the economy” takes priority over everything else may seem foreordained, but, Friederici

Drawing as a tool of thought: an investigation of drawing, cognition, and creativity that integrates text and hand-drawn images.Drawing is a way of constructing ideas and observations as much as it is a means of expressing them. When we are not ready or able to put our thoughts into words, we can sometimes put them down in arrangements of lines and marks. Artists, designers, architects, and others draw to generate, explore, and test perceptions and mental models. In Drawing Thought, artist-educator Andrea Kantrowitz invites readers to use drawing to extend and reflect on their own thought processes. She interweaves illuminating hand-drawn images with text, integrating recent findings in cognitive psychology and neuroscience with accounts of her own artistic and teaching practices. The practice of drawing seems to be found across almost all known human cultures, with its past stretching back into the caves of prehistory. It takes advantage of the ways in which human cognition is embodie