Does Technology Inspire or Inhibit Human Creativity?

1. Does Technology Inspire or Inhibit Human Creativity? Strategic Foresighting Associates 2009 WFS Conference Chicago © 2009 Strategic Foresighting Associates

2. What is Creativity? • Creativity is a mental and social process involving the generation of new ideas or concepts, or new associations of the creative mind between existing ideas or concepts. Creativity is fueled by the process of either conscious or unconscious insight. It is often useful to explicitly distinguish between creativity and innovation. Creativity is typically used to refer to the act of producing new ideas, approaches or actions, while innovation is the process of both generating and applying such creative ideas in some specific context. Source: Wikipedia © 2009 Strategic Foresighting Associates

3. Expertise technical, procedural & intellectual knowledge Required Tools Three Pillars of Creativity • Creative thinking skills • how flexibly and imaginatively people approach problems • Motivation • especially intrinsic motivation © 2009 Strategic Foresighting Associates

4. The wordtechnologyorigins trace back to Greek word “technologia” — "techne", ("craft") and "logia", ("saying”). It means systematic treatment of an art What is Technology? Thus, technology itself is the result and expression of creativity. Without creativity, technology could not exist Source: Webster’s Dictionary © 2009 Strategic Foresighting Associates

5. Eliminates human contact Eats up time Promotes multi-tasking Reduces motivation Technology… Saves time Provides new opportunities Inspires us Makes it easier to be creative © 2009 Strategic Foresighting Associates

6. Limiting real life experiences Technologyreduces human contact © 2009 Strategic Foresighting Associates

7. Technology eats up time! • It eats up time! (distractions impair creativity). © 2009 Strategic Foresighting Associates

8. Technology Created Multi-Tasking • Multitasking at a price! • No time to think? © 2009 Strategic Foresighting Associates

9. Technology Reduces Motivation • Necessity, who is the mother of invention (Plato) • If there is no more necessity, what happens to creativity? © 2009 Strategic Foresighting Associates

10. Technology Saves Time • Opens up more possibilities (From pencil and paper to computers and CAD) © 2009 Strategic Foresighting Associates

11. Technology Provides More Opportunities to Be Creative A networked robot chalks user-submitted messages onto the course of the premier bike race Source: www.creativitycat.com © 2009 Strategic Foresighting Associates

12. Technology Inspires Us • Lets you out of your box © 2009 Strategic Foresighting Associates

13. Technology Allows Us to Be Amused and Entertained Egg Benedict Egg Benedict from WD-50 in NYC © 2009 Strategic Foresighting Associates

14. Technology Multiplies Our Creative Abilities Now everyone can be an artist! © 2009 Strategic Foresighting Associates

15. Technology Gives Us Additional Topics to Be Creative About – Combining Technology and Art http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DavBQ7F5YgM © 2009 Strategic Foresighting Associates

16. So Which One Is It? © 2009 Strategic Foresighting Associates

17. What Do People Think? Source: 2009 SFA Survey, 1000 respondents, US general population © 2009 Strategic Foresighting Associates

18. Three Pillars of Creativity • Creative thinking skills • how flexibly and imaginatively people approach problems • Expertise • technical, procedural & intellectual knowledge • Required tools • Motivation • especially intrinsic motivation • Technology • Stimulates imagination • Change • AI helps think • Technology • Allows easy access to information and resources • Technology • Allows for “mass motivation” • Expertise • technical, procedural & intellectual knowledge • Required tools • Creative thinking skills • how flexibly and imaginatively people approach problems • Motivation • especially intrinsic motivation © 2009 Strategic Foresighting Associates

19. Technology Creates 2 New Types of Creativity 1. Individual creativity, technologically enhanced. person hands from sand from atoms avatar machinery © 2009 Strategic Foresighting Associates

20. Technology Creates 2 New Types of Creativity MS Paint - Mona Lisa? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uk2sPl_Z7ZU 1. Individual creativity, technologically enhanced. The Last Messages - Text message novel published in Finland, contains 300+ pages! © 2009 Strategic Foresighting Associates

21. Technology Creates 2 New Types of Creativity 2. Collective (open-source) creativity © 2009 Strategic Foresighting Associates

22. Technology Fuels Creativity! • Creative thinking skills • how flexibly and imaginatively people approach problems • Expertise • technical, procedural & intellectual knowledge • Required tools • Motivation • especially intrinsic motivation • Technology • Stimulates imagination • Change • AI helps think • Technology • Allows easy access to information & resources • Technology • Allows for “mass motivation” Collective creativity Individual creativity, technologically enhanced © 2009 Strategic Foresighting Associates

23. Info@strategicforesighting.com Strategic Foresighting Associates Glendale CA 91207 USA Tel: 818-641-6947 Fax: 818-484-7576 www.strategicforesighting.com © 2009 Strategic Foresighting Associates