(17) How the mind makes new ideas: Spider Goats, Mario Bros, Dick Cheney | David Eagleman | Big Think

Overview of Human Creativity

  • Humans have the unique ability to absorb and synthesize ideas, leading to the creation of new concepts.

  • This process can be categorized into three main cognitive mechanisms: bending, breaking, and blending.

Bending

  • Definition: Bending involves changing the attributes of an existing object or idea, such as its size or form.

  • Artistic Examples:

    • Statues showing human forms that are exaggerated or altered for artistic effect.

    • JR's giant statue of Mohammad Idris leaping over a building for the Olympics.

    • Tiny sculptures that emphasize a different aspect of the original form.

  • Scientific Examples:

    • Edwin Land’s solution to headlight glare involved miniaturizing polarizing crystals into a windshield.

    • The evolution of the mechanical artificial heart into a continuous flow model that eliminates the pulse.

    • Airplanes inspired by the mechanics of bird flight.

Breaking

  • Definition: Breaking means deconstructing an idea or object into smaller parts or removing certain elements.

  • Artistic Examples:

    • Cory Arcangel’s "Super Mario Clouds" stripped down the game to only display the clouds.

    • David Hockney's fragmented visual fields that challenge perceptions.

    • Pointillism used by Seurat to create images from colored dots.

  • Scientific Examples:

    • The neuroscience technique Clarity, which allows observation of brain pathways by breaking down fatty molecules.

    • Fred Sanger's method of sequencing DNA through breaking long molecules into smaller segments.

Blending

  • Definition: Blending occurs when two separate ideas are combined to create something entirely new.

  • Artistic Examples:

    • Mythological creatures like sphinxes and chimeras represent blended forms from cultural stories.

  • Scientific Examples:

    • The creation of Freckles the spider-goat through genetic engineering, blending spider silk production with goat milk secretion.

Conclusion

  • The processes of bending, breaking, and blending illustrate the inherent creativity in both arts and sciences.

  • While artistic expressions are overt and visible, the same cognitive mechanics operate behind scientific innovations.

  • Unlike computers that retain exact data, human creativity results in dynamic and ever-evolving reinterpretations of input.

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