Preserved Topic: If the computer is but a tool then I must ask, how do you create? (Page 2 of 2)

I totally agree with you Osprey, you hit the nail right on the head. Creativity is personal, and you've got to go with what works for you. My "east vs. west" reference was in response to Wuji's posts, and I was trying to point out that it shouldn't really be anything vs. anything.

I want to clarify a few things that I said, too. When I said that "Eastern thinking" in Korea tends to stifle creativity, I was mainly referring to the influence of Confucianism, which is a very suffocating philosophy. In Korea it was traditionally used (and often still is used) to strengthen the position of those in power, ie, maintain the status quo. This is stagnation, which is pretty much the opposite of creativity. There was an interesting book published here called "Confucius must die for Korea to live" (rough translation), and it basically talked about how Confucianism was what was holding Korea back. It's a pretty complex subject, but it should be clear that Confucianism does not encourage creativity.

Another thing I wanted to clarify was the whole issue about the "philosophy of creativity." Yeah, it is fun to talk philosophy sometimes, but when it comes down to real life, it is sometimes easy to get lost in the abstract. Most Koreans I know do not consciously live their lives in accordance with the theory of "ohaeng-eumyang" (the five elements and yin and yang), although it does have some influence on their way of thinking. Likewise, most Westerners do not consciously live their lives according to Western philosophy. I know this is the philosophy forum, but when you get down to the nitty gritty I don't think philosophy is going to help you become more creative. Wait, let me rephrase that: Philosophy does not help me become more creative . If it works for you, more power to you. Me, while I like discussing theories and abstracts, I need to get back down to earth and connect with reality if I'm going to get anything done.

[slight content edit]

[This message has been edited by Suho1004 (edited 04-24-2002).]

Heh, I went back and actually read Dracusis' first post. So that's what this thread was about . OK, well, here are my answers, for what it's worth.

Describing your creative process or creative approach to a particular problem/progect you've once worked on.

Well, I don't do design for a living, but I do occasionally dabble. When it comes to web pages, I try to let the content dictate the design. I'll scan in some pictures of natural landscapes and play around with the colors when looking for a color scheme. Most of my good ideas come when I am thinking away from the computer, as opposed to sitting in front of it and staring at the screen. I like to play things out in my head, pretending I'm on the computer but just doing it in my head. It's a lot faster, and easier to change what I've done .

What are the things you do in your day to day life that you believe enhance your creative abilities?

Reading, hiking, listening to music, working out, basically just being open to the world around me.

Do you think your a creative person, why or why don't you think this?

I do think I am a creative person, primarily because I think I have a strong imagination and I'm not afraid to use it. There are different types of creativity, and I'm better at some than others. Creativity with language is one of my strong points, whereas creativity with images is an area where I'm weaker.

What's your definition of creativity?

That's a doozy.... On the most basic level I think it means the ability to create, to incorporate your experience and external factors into the process and make something new, something that belongs to you. I am a translator, and it is said that translation is a form of creativity. You are taking a source language text, abstracting it to the semantic level, and then using those semantic building blocks to create a new text in the target language. Contrary to popular belief, translation is not merely "moving" ("moving" is sometimes used to mean "translate" in Korean) a message from one language to the next. It is a dual process of deconstruction and construction.

Another school of thought says that the translator is a betrayer (from the Italian "traduttore, traditore") because he or she "betrays" the original text and message in the process. I believe that this is just a negative way of looking at the creativity that goes into translation, so I don't subcribe to this. I look at the cup as being half full, not half empty . One thing is certain, though, a source text and a translated text are two different things, and that qualifies as creation in my book.

Coolness.

Actualy, there is no ~real~ definition of creativity. Mainly because it's way too subjective from person to person.

I came accross this amazing (although a little sexist) quote that I think would apply to most of the people here.

"I feel more confident and satisfied when I reflect that I have two professions and not one. Medicine is my lawful wife and literature is my mistress. When I get tired of one I spend the night with the other. Though it's disorderly it's not so dull, and besides, neither really loses anything through my infidelity"
- Anton Chekhov

Now if you were to replace Medicine with Design and literature with Programming that would suit me to a tea.

What does that have to do with creativity? Well, if I'm bored I only produce crap, or I don't produce anything at all. So I think there's something to be gained from that statment.

When you say there is no real definition of creativity, you mean there's no way to define what makes people creative, right? Because, technically speaking, you can define creativity itself. I get what you're saying though, and I agree.

I'm not quite sure if the Chekhov quote would apply to me. I think I see his point, but it just seems a bit off to me. Maybe it's because translation is more of a dominatrix to me than a lawful wife. Or maybe that's just my employers. That must be it.

Although I do agree with the burnout part. I'm kind of burned out right now, as a matter of fact, which is why I'm here. I guess that makes everyone here my mistress. Hehe. That brings a smile to my face...