013 - Creativity and Summoning AI's like a Shaman

Jul 9, 2025

Gav Fielding, a Digital Marketing & Brand Specialist and Artist, shares insights into the intertwining of creativity and AI. He likens prompt engineering to digital shamanism, emphasizing the importance of generating numerous ideas to discover exceptional ones. The conversation also touches on the challenge of replicating human understanding in AI and the transformative role of AI in education and creative processes. Fielding warns about the risks of losing tacit knowledge in a fully automated world, making purpose the key differentiator in the age of abundance.

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ADVICE

Personalized Communication Matters

Tailor communication to individual learning and personality styles.
Sharing psychological profiles fosters forgiveness and improves team dynamics.

ANECDOTE

ChatGPT Tutor as Guided Discovery

ChatGPT's tutor mode encourages guided discovery rather than giving direct answers.
It's an early step toward tailored learning but lacks knowledge of individual styles yet.

ANECDOTE

Creativity Is a Volume Game

Creativity is a volume game; more ideas lead to better ones.
Computers excel at generating many ideas quickly but require human expertise to raise quality.

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Episode 13 - Creativity and Summoning AI like a Shaman

Hosts: Andy and Pete Guest: Gav Fielding (Digital Marketing & Brand Specialist, Artist)

Exploring AI's creative potential, the art of prompt engineering as digital shamanism, and how traditional creative processes translate to the age of artificial intelligence.

AI Development Evolution (00:00-08:22)

Cursor IDE billing changes and the shift from "slow coding" to "vibe coding"
Return to "super fast waterfall" development with AI agents
Context window limitations: quality vs quantity

Human vs AI Context (08:22-15:55)

The challenge of replicating human contextual understanding in AI
Multi-personality aspects of identity and AI agent development
"Things you know" vs "things you are" in AI persona creation
Vision and sensory data as the next AI frontier

Learning Transformation (15:55-24:12)

Khan Academy's personalized AI math tutoring
Tailoring communication styles to individual learning preferences
ChatGPT's tutor mode: guided discovery vs direct answers
Voice interface challenges in natural conversation

Creativity as Process (24:12-35:20)

Creativity as a "volumes game"
generating many ideas to find exceptional ones
AI raises both floor and ceiling of creative output
The "doorman fallacy" - losing tacit knowledge through naive automation
Personal AI tools outperform organisational implementations

Purpose in an Abundant World (35:20-46:48)

When everything is automated, purpose becomes the key differentiator
Brand strategy increasingly important with commoditized intelligence- Balancing automation benefits against loss of meaning
David Graeber's "bullshit jobs" in AI context

Creative Problem-Solving (46:48-55:06)

Engineering vs creative solutions (Rory Sutherland's elevator mirror example)
Market research challenges: people can't articulate true needs
The difference between mechanical and psychological solutions

Decentralization & Community (55:06-58:14)

AI enabling hyper-localisation and community based solutions
Shift from centralised to localised innovation
Evolution toward gig economy with community co-working hubs

Shamanic Prompt Engineering (58:14-1:18:43)

Prompt engineering as modern "shamanism" summoning digital entities
"Set and setting" for AI interactions, borrowed from psychedelic methodology
Multi-agent conversations for enhanced ideation
Tools like Mind Hive for collaborative AI workshops

Creative Methodology (1:18:43-1:27:54)

Hemingway's "write drunk, edit sober" framework
Separating ideation from judgment in creative processes
Underwater brainstorming for forced creative breakthroughs
Divergent vs convergent thinking states

Digital Summoning (1:27:54-1:39:34)

AI requiring careful "birthing" and context setting
Traditional shamanic practices informing modern AI interaction
The art of "enchanting" AI with proper incantations

Standout Quotes

"Creativity is just a volumes game. You have more ideas. Some of them are good, some of them are bad, and you filter them all out."

"It's almost like layering in pre-modern medicine... the clash between those applied to AI now versus current life versus future AI life."

"We're all shamaning this thing. And we're just giving it a bad trip."

"There probably is like a way of... maybe it's all in occult books around summoning demons. It's actually just got mis-translated over the years. And it was actually all about context engineering."