Power of Creativity

 

In an evermore algorithm driven and efficient world, our creative urge seems to be dulling. A recent study at Stanford and Harvard documented a 30% decrease, since around 2000, in creative thinking scores among adults, a phenomenon which researchers (and our in class prompt) have called "the creativity crisis." While we've advanced significantly with technology, at what cost? Are we losing what makes us human?

I remember once being dumbfounded by an impossible math problem, having tried every logical process that I could. Exhausted, I went and flopped down onto my bed and began to fold paper airplanes. There was something about this random, mindless play that brought out an answer that I couldn't reach with my left brain. As it happened, my mind wasn't broken; it was still playing around with the problem, just unconsciously, as it began to explore new approaches. This is what neuroscientists have labeled as a kind of "productive daydreaming," and it may be humanity's hidden creative genius.

Creativity exists and is utilized for various purposes across subjects. In business, companies like Airbnb revolutionized hospitality by repurposing idle space. In science, scientists created CRISPR technology by asking the seemingly ridiculous question: "What if we could apply bacterial defense systems to edit genes?" Even education, newer curriculums like project-based learning, routinely produces more active, flexible minds.

The potential of creativity is limitless. Creativity enables us to devise clever workarounds to tough environmental problems, create more humane technology, compose compelling narratives, and craft more impactful public health strategies. It enables us to see possibilities, while algorithms see dead ends.