The Computer Made a Creative Choice That Man Wouldn't Have Made

2min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

I was going to ask you about this because it was a stunning thing to read. But I did have that feeling at all. So I'm crying. It's like, well, I don't care if the machine wins or man wins. Why am I having an emotional reaction? What's going on? And I think I realized what it was on the same day. The reason the computer made the creative choice was not because the computer was smarter. It was actually because the computer knew less. That means there's so much that we think we know that we don't know. and maybe the computers can help us remove the distracting information that we hold true which is stopping us.

The flow and the ingredients by which an idea becomes an offering — and life practices which call that alchemy forth. The mystery of it all that can only be named and wondered at — and the ordinary mystery that creativity is a human birthright, a way of being rather than doing, that beckons to us all, in everything we do, from crafting something to conversing to the arranging of furniture in a room.

This is where Krista goes with the rock star music producer Rick Rubin. It's not a conversation about the creative process of the many great musicians he's worked with — but a conversation that is for and about us all.

There are some surprises, too, in his lovely, soothing voice — like the way he finds a metaphor for all of life in pro wrestling. And he leaves the doors of his studio wide open as they speak, so there is a soundtrack of ocean waves.

Rick Rubin has been a singular, transformative creative muse for artists across genres and generations — from the Beastie Boys to Johnny Cash, from Public Enemy to the Red Hot Chili Peppers, from Adele to Jay-Z. To name just a few. His new (and first) book is The Creative Act: A Way of Being. He is co-founder of the record label Def Jam Recordings, and former co-president of Columbia Records. He is also one of the hosts of the podcast, Broken Record.

Find the transcript for this show at onbeing.org.

___________

Sign up for The Pause to receive our seasonal Saturday morning newsletter and advance invitations and news on all things On Being.

And: if you can, please take a minute to rate On Being in this podcast app — you'll be bending the arc of algorithms towards this adventure of conversation and living.