New study shows highly creative people’s brains work differently from others'

Re:New study shows highly creative people’s brains work diff... by steve_adams_86 on Tuesday July 05, 2022 @02:31AM (#31985031)

This could be my neurological development being slightly askew, but I am not creative in the slightest. I used to think I was somewhat creative (I drew constantly as a child and into my late teens, played a lot of music, worked as a graphic designer, love building things from wood, sort of a “maker” of sorts these days), but then I realized I’m just a regurgitation machine.

I’m not sure I’ve had a remotely original or interesting idea of my own in my life.

I just suck up everything around me, rip it apart, slap it back together, and that’s my version of “creativity”.

I’ve been working at being more creative now that I’ve realized I’m not creative, and I have no idea how. I am a pattern replicating machine.

I’m a little disappointed, but also somewhat content that I can enjoy what I do nonetheless. It’s all a sort of meditation and practice in developing skills. I’m not sure I ever prided myself on being creative in the first place, so it’s not a loss I suppose.

But when you say anyone can be creative, I have no idea what you mean. I can’t figure it out. Everything I think of is something someone has done. I can trace everything back to someone else. There is nothing creative about it.

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Re:New study shows highly creative people’s brains work diff... by 8bp on Tuesday July 05, 2022 @05:50AM (#31986279)

What I find funny is that the description of your version of "creativity" is my general definition of creativity. Has anyone ever done anything completely original and unheard of before? I think to be creative at something is to have a large mental library of concepts within a certain space, and to be able to mix and match those concepts. Much like ripping ideas apart and slapping them back together as you say.

I used to think visual character design was the hardest thing ever. To just come up with something out of nowhere. that being creative like that was a very difficult thing. What I didn't usually see or look at is all the designs those people have seen and taken inspiration from before.

I think that's also why some ideas can be "ahead of their time". Someone made a connection between some concepts that many people haven't yet, and will think is too farfetched. Still, over time people can come to see value in that idea that was dismissed earlier.

Just to reiterate my main point, I think it's easy to look at what other people do and think "Wow, how original!", without ever seeing their inspiration for something. Even though they might just feel like they replicated some patterns.

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Re:New study shows highly creative people’s brains work diff... by animal531 on Tuesday July 05, 2022 @06:11AM (#31986380)

You're too hard on yourself, the reality is that this is the vast majority of people. There are those few percent of people that will come up with something new, but the majority of time its a person thinking about combining A with B, and coming up with something that's just slightly new.

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