Thinking in terms of systems allows for flexibility in deciding how to bound the system in the context of creativity. Traditionally, the boundary of creativity has been drawn at the individual level, focusing on the brain as the locus of creative thinking. However, complex systems theory enables a broader perspective, considering the inclusion of the body, tools, or even the entire society as a complex cognitive system. By viewing creativity as emerging at the societal level, it becomes natural to expect simultaneous invention, as the system is primed for discovery and understanding.
In this series so far, we've applied complexity science to a whole range of systems, particularly those more obvious complex systems like economies or cities. In this episode, we're going to do something a little bit different and apply complexity science to something not so obvious: creativity.
To do that, we're joined again by Tyler Marghetis, Assistant Professor of Cognitive and Information Sciences at the University of California, Merced. Tyler has been on the show before to explore tipping points, and tipping points in jazz music. Today, he wants us to take our traditional approach to what makes someone creative, and pull the camera back. Instead of looking at creativity as what happens inside a person's brain, Tyler wants to explore what happens when we consider creativity through the context of society as a complex, cognitive system.
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