Creativity and the Future Part 2 - Together Presented by David Keenan 7 July 2012

Introduction Imagine: How Creativity Works is divided into two sections Alone – individuals (June 2) Together – groups (July 7)

The Book The Author Published March 19, 2012 By Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Contributing Editor at Wired Graduated Columbia University Studied at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar Written for The New Yorker, Nature, The New York Times Magazine, etc. Columnist for The Wall Street Journal Frequent contributor to WNYC's Radiolab.

Agenda – Part 2 Summary – part 1 Q – collaboration Urban friction Shakespeare Paradox Meta-ideas Summary

Agenda – Part 1 Introduction Definition Two types The Process The Mechanics The Factors Summary – part 1 Part 1 presentation and audio available at /Past%20Meetings%20Jan%20-%20Jun% scroll down to June 2 for links /Past%20Meetings%20Jan%20-%20Jun%202012

Two Different Types Divergent thinking Trusting spontaneous epiphanies Right hemisphere of brain Expand internal search Essential for remote associative problems Assisted by warm showers, blue rooms, paradigm shifts, radical restructuring Censor turned off Active daydream Convergent thinking Attention, focus, analysis Essential for refining poem, editing, solving algebra problems Chisel away at errors, slow grind toward better Assisted by perseverance, red color coffee, dopamine limited distractions

The Process Frustration with a problem or situation, maybe some melancholy, angst Anthropologist, explorer – looking with new eyes Letting go – open to new ideas, go with flow Breakthrough – now there’s an idea Refinement – slowly grinding out errors Chutzpah – the certain belief in the goodness

Big Ideas - Part 1 Creativity is a bundle of distinct mental processes. How we think about a problem, should depend on the problem itself Knowledge can be a subtle curse –When we learn about the world, we also learn all the reasons why the world cannot be changed. –We get used to our failures and imperfections. To remain creative over time… –Experiment with ignorance –Stare at things we do not fully understand We see the most when we are outside looking in

The Future of Creativity Together Q – collaboration Urban friction Shakespeare Paradox Meta-ideas

Small World Q Brian Uzzi and Jarrett Spiro study of Broadway musicals, their teams (ave. size 7), and success Q less than 1.4 – too raw Q of about 2.6 – perfect blend Q greater than 3.2 – too familiar Composer Lyricist Writer Choreographer Director Producer

1980 George Lucas - Lucasfilm started a computer division for special effects and Ed Catmull and Alvy Ray Smith hired John Lassiter, a Disney animator hired as “UI designer” Official goal – make and sell CG computer systems Unofficial goal – make a completely CG movie 1986 G. Lucas tired of funding computer geeks and $135k mainframes, sold the unit to Steve Jobs for $10 million The computers did not sell – too early, too costly Jobs funded himself, millions per year Catmull, Smith and Lassiter turned to 15 sec commercials And started their creative culture Tin Toy – 5 min short film won Oscar 1989 and Disney’s interest – collaborate for Toy Story

Pixar Culture Normal Hollywood – form an independent company to make film – (limit loss) Pixar wanted animators and computer scientists to collaborate and build a good team A mediocre team will screw up a good idea. Give a mediocre idea to a good team and let them work together. Steve Jobs cancelled plan for separate silo offices Single vast space with airy atrium

Pixar Culture Jobs moved Mailboxes Meeting rooms Cafeteria Coffee shop Gift shop Bathrooms Game tables to the atrium Now 11 bars on campus + Pixar Univ, 110 classes These are the “third places” where people “smoosh” together and strike up conversations Not a waste of time, random chats are a constant source of good ideas

Allen Curve The closer you sit to a colleague, the higher the frequency of communication

13 feature films released through Feb 2012 Earning $602 million ave Disney buys Pixar for $7.4 billion

Lessons Shared areas – big venue for new ideas The most innovative teams are a mixture of familiar and unexpected “Shredding” – every morning animators and computer scientists have breakfast and analyze the few seconds on film from previous day Learned from Toyota – anyone can stop the line Everybody learns together to spot and fix problems Brutally critical – candid

Brainstorming Alex Osborn, cofounder BBDO, late 1940s 1.Defer judgment 2.Reach for quantity Focus on quantity: Withhold criticism: should be put 'on hold' Welcome unusual ideas: Combine and improve ideas: Groups brainstorming do not produce more ideas than working alone Everyone is right. When all ideas are equally useful, we stay within ourselves, no incentive to think about others’ thoughts

Better than Brainstorming Charlan Nemeth, psychologist UC Berkeley 265 undergrads into 5 person teams Each – same, difficult problem, 20 minutes Group 1 Group 2Group 3 No other instructions BrainstormGood solutions from many Work howeverStd guidelines Don’t be afraid to say any idea Most studies suggest you should debate, even criticize each others ideas Results X ideasX + a few1.25*X ideas Later

Debate and Criticism “Debate and criticism do not inhibit ideas, but rather stimulate them – compared to every other condition” C. Nemeth Imagination is not meek. Criticism leads to new ideas because is triggers the brain to fully engage with the work of others. Footnote: Anger seems to have short term creative benefits – angry subjects generate more ideas initially, quickly declined Pixar – the importance of “plussing” – constructive criticism Done right, criticism works like surprise

Clichés Another C Nemeth study “Free associate, express the first thing that comes to mind when I say…” …blue. Answers =sky 45%, ocean, green, jeans Clichés are efficient. The brain does efficient. But when assistant in group says a “wrong” one like turquoise (for blue) the group came up with far more original and varied responses The power of dissent, is the power of surprise Trying to understand a strange response leads thinking to a new perspective, leaving cliché land behind

Urban Friction “…the metropolis provides what otherwise could be given only by traveling; namely, the strange.” Jane Jacobs, urban activist, author Modern urban planning – a debacle Instead cozy neighborhoods like the Village, NYC –Short blocks, cheap rents, mixed use, residential and retail Cities force us to mingle with people of different “social distances” exposing us to much wider worldview

Compare Phoenix, AZ million population, 3,071/sq mi. –Avoid unwanted interactions –Trades crowded public spaces for single family homes –# 146 in innovation San Jose, CA/Silicon Valley – 1.9 mil, 5,500/sq mi. –Local culture, not history, not geography –Lots of bars & cafes –Lots of mixing between companies –# 2 in innovation

Compare Boston/Rt 128 from 1955 to 1970’s –DEC, Wang as examples –Giant head start –Lost race due to self-sufficiency, secrecy, isolation, NDA San Jose, CA/Silicon Valley –1956 Shockley came to Mountain View after Boston rej. –1957 “Traitorous 8” left Shockley for Fairchild Semi –1968 Noyce & Moore left Fairchild for Intel –By 1985 had twice population of Rt 128 –Lots of mixing between companies, lax NDA enforcement –Homebrew Computer Club – Jobs met Woz

Today’s Hot City Tel Aviv, Israel Few natural resources Lurches from war to war Absorbed 1.5 million immigrants in 20 years (20% of 7.8 million total) Small size of area – everyone know everyone Everyone serves in the IDF, reserves aid network Lots of smooshing Israel is 91% urban

Networking Most folks have 4 – 7 close friends Weak ties varies widely Martin Ruef, sociologist, Princeton Study of 766 entrepreneurs A.Most – limited circle of contacts, self similar B.Some – large numbers of weak ties, unexpected friendships, expansive, diverse social networks Group B was 3x more innovative than Group A (patents, trademarks, entering unexploited niches) The most creative ideas don’t occur when we are alone. Rather, they emerge from our social circles, collections of acquaintances who inspire novel thoughts

Face to Face University of Michigan study Face-face groups solve difficult tasks more quickly than those communicating electronically Isaac Kohane, Harvard Medical School 2010 study of 35,000 peer reviewed papers Mapped each co-author Closer-authors’ papers were cited more often Our most important ideas do not arrive on a screen but emerge from idle conversations, from too many scientists sharing the same space.

Internet not worthless Rethink the nature of online interactions Insure that digital contacts do not detract from our real analog conversations in real world. Internet has evolved to maximize efficiency, make it easier to find information. But increasing serendipity has great potential Seek and engage the strange, surprising, weird, new Popularity is not the goal

Remember

Cities vs. Companies Video 17:34http:// The surprising math of cities and corporations West – Theoretical physicist, Stanford, Los Alamos turned to study cities after supercollider cancelled in 1993.

Cities For every doubling of city population, productivity, wealth, crime, patents, garbage, etc. increases by 15% As more people come together, they exchange more ideas and become more innovative Yet differences endure –Austin, TX – lots of patents –Cleveland, OH – lots of poor –Bridgeport, CT – lots of wealth Best way to reduce crime is to add lots of recent college graduates

at 11:21 of 17:34

Universality at 12:03 of 17:34

b > 1 (Super-Linear) at 14:44 of 17:34

Innovation to Avoid Collapse at 15:04 of 17:34

Scalability of Companies at 16:00 of 17:34

Cities vs. Companies Cities rarely die. Companies always do. Corporate productivity – sublinear – does not increase with size, due to failure to innovate Success leads to minimizing the freewheeling interactions that lead to new ideas Erect walls, create hierarchy, keep people from relaxing, from sharing insights, stifle conversations, discourage dissent, suffocate social networks Rather than maximizing employee creativity they obsess on minor inefficiencies Exceptions

Periods of Excess Genius David Banks, statistician, Duke University “The Problem of Excess Genius” short paper Genius “clots inhomogenously” in time and space –Athens, 440 to 380 BC Plato, Socrates, Pericles, Euripides, Aristhophanes, Sophocles –Florence, 1450 to 1490 Michaelangelo, DaVinci, Ghiberti, Botticelli, Donatello Not a result of peace or prosperity Not purely a result of a paradigm shift May not be able to tell why for these periods

Shakespeare London, late 1580s Theater boom, dozens of new playhouses Showing 6 days a week Each night 2% of citizens attended a show Densest settlement in history –Over 200,000 people in few square miles Wages were 50% higher than in countryside By 1590, more than half population < 20 yrs old 1510 – less than 1% could read 1590 – about 50% could read

Shakespeare 1600 – >100 publishers in Covent Garden Protestant – read the Bible Vast access to new stories, previously only available to scholars who studied classics in Greek, Latin University previously only from upper classes but scholarships for some commoners with promise Commoner grads did not go to court, so choice were the Clergy, Merchant or Arts/Playwright So, flood of new stories, surplus playwrights, public demand for new works, lots of venues

Shakespeare Demand was so great for new plays, that young playwrights got hired, and gained experience His first play, Henry VI, was drawn heavily from The Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland by Ralph Holinshed, a book he borrowed He learned from Christopher Marlowe’s Tamburlaine, how audiences loved violence & blood Some thought Marlowe wrote many of the lines His plays improved, yet he never stopped stealing from Marlowe, and others

Shakespeare He pioneered a new creative method, in which every conceivable source informed his art He was very talented, yet was able to shine due to the circumstances of the time and place England practiced ‘benign neglect’ of rules of censorship of playwrights England had very few rules on copyright, so Shakespeare was free to steal stories and lines from other writers One of the first societies that did not treat writers as criminals

Why it worked T.S. Elliot wrote that the astonishing outpouring of creativity in Elizabethan England was because these artists were lucky to live in a culture that made it relatively easy to make art. –Schooled in traditions, but able to steal from peers –Knew Latin, but wrote in common tongue –Complex plays, but still sold lots of tickets –So more artists grew to be successful –Less talent was wasted

Vocational School for Creativity NOCCA – New Orleans Center for Creative Arts –Alumni: Wynton and Branford Marsalis, Harry Connick Jr. –98% of seniors go to college, 80% get financial aid High school kids from all over spend afternoons Freshman auditions – lots of self taught –Teachers look for raw potential, not polish Once accepted –Student paired with a Master (working artist) –No lectures, no standard text, no standardized test –Student learns by doing –Spend their time creating, performing, adapting to critique

Vocational School for Creativity Most NOCCA grad do become professional artists They do have essential skills –Ability to develop their own talents –Know what it takes to become good –Know how to struggle, fail, try again, solve problems and cope with criticism –Know how to manage their own time and persevere in the face of difficulty –Know how to push themselves –Understanding the brute reality of the creative process NOCCA strives for pockets of brilliance by encouraging excellence

Vocational School for Creativity High Tech High – San Diego, CA charter school Every grad has been admitted to college, 85% complete 4 year degree Learn by doing, play with scrap metal and programming code in abandoned Navy facility There is no test for the future, that we can teach to Creativity is a skill that never goes out of style Students learn to cope with complexity and connect ideas, how to bridge disciplines and improve their first drafts – can’t be taught, must be discovered, learned by doing

Grit Persistence, perseverance, grit Single-minded pursuit of goal, sacrifice for sake of passion, because creative success demands nothing less One of most important predictors of success Explains individual variation better than IQ score Predicts success in –National Spelling Bee –Special Forces Boot Camp –Teacher Effectiveness (Teachers for America program)

Meta-ideas Benign neglect of rules Spread of education Ideas have value

Meta-ideas for Ages of Excess Genius 1.Education New forms of educational opportunity Ensure every student has a chance to succeed Ensure that talented have chance to flourish Identify those with motivation and potential Give them tools to discover and invent When talent is concentrated, students inspire and challenge each other

Meta-ideas for Ages of Excess Genius 2.Smoosh New forms of human mixing Immigrants invent patents at double the rate of non-imigrants 1% increase in immigrants with college degrees leads to 15% increase in patent production Ensure collisions of creative people

Meta-ideas for Ages of Excess Genius 3.Willingness to Take Risks Consistently encourage those who take chances Even though most entrepreneurs will fail and many research grants will miss the mark Most successful entrepreneurs have failed at least one previous start-up It is vital to show support to creative process Think of it as a “farm team system”, find young prospects, play them, coach them, grow them, let them show what they can do

Meta-ideas for Ages of Excess Genius 4.Manage Rewards for Innovation Inventors should profit from past inventions But we need to encourage borrowing and adaptation. Patents “add the fuel of interest to the fire of genius” A. Lincoln Also make it tough for other inventors to build upon Need to get the price right US creativity undermined: by vague patents, patent trolls, Mickey Mouse copyrights

Meta-ideas for Ages of Excess Genius 1.Education 2.Smoosh 3.Willingness to Take Risks 4.Manage Rewards for Innovation 5.More meta-ideas are needed Our creative problems keep getting more difficult. It is time to create a culture that won’t hold us back.

Thank you