Inspiration for creativity springs from the effort to look for the magical in the mundane

 

The story of a young boy and an apple tree is something that the world remembers, not for the apple which fell on his head, but for his scientific temper that led him to enquire into its reasons. This mundane apple event could be considered the beginning of the renaissance of creativity.

The widely known scientist, Isaac Newton was this young boy who discovered Laws of gravitation from that ordinary apple, highlighting that the creativity arises from the effort to look for unusual things from the usual, i.e. the magical from the mundane.

This essay will explore how creativity arises from ordinary things, how it differs from common thinking, why is it necessary, and how the obstacles for its development could be overcome.

Extraordinary from the ordinary

One can observe many ordinary things throughout the day. But these ordinary things have the potential to become extraordinary when a little thought is invoked to transform them. This little thought may be enough to solve many simple problems that we encounter in our daily life. Consider a chair with one leg slightly broken. This can be fixed by a well-folded paper placed beneath that broken leg.

By a little thought, a paper, which is traditionally used for writing is turned into something that can fix a chair. This illustrates how the magic arises from mundane.

This can also be illustrated by another example. A girl can use her bangles as a geometry tool to draw circles in her mathematics exam. This further reaffirms the presented argument.

A natural question arises in one’s mind after these examples – is the above thinking not the general thinking?

The answer lies in understanding the difference between creativity and general thinking. The general thinking is involved in utilizing a product for the purpose it was designed for. The creativity is involved in both the process of designing the product and utilizing it for reasons other than for which it was designed for.

This can be demonstrated with an example of soda can. The general thinking is invoked when the soda can is used to contain beverages, which is its primary purpose. But the creativity is required to select the best shape among the cylindrical, spherical, and cuboidal soda cans for the optimized output, i.e. for maximum volume at minimum cost of production. The used soda can, when reused as a pen stand is also an example of creativity.

Necessity of creativity

While a pen stand may not be a big necessity, the idea to create that is invaluable. Creativity is the basis for the survival and growth of the humans from turning a stone into a wheel to building rockets carrying humans to space. Consider an IT graduate becoming an IAS officer. Despite having different background, the officer can bring his/her IT skills and tech knowledge on AI (Artificial Intelligence), MIS (Management Information System), Data analysis, etc. to better tackle the challenges in the governance. Thus, can aid in realizing the vision of Digital India through the out-of-box thinking, which is the creativity.

The creativity aids a commoner to lead a sustainable life. A farmer can utilize the dung of cattle as a manure in the agricultural field. This will help reduce the out-of-pocket expenditure of the farmer, thus increasing the income on one hand and maintaining the sustainability of the field on the other.

It can also become a tool for empowerment of women. The Namo Drone Didi program of the government provides the women self-help groups (SHGs) with drones to provide it for rental services to farmers. This not only gives the women financial empowerment, but gives them the skills to operate it thus providing them technological literacy. This affirms that if empowerment is the goal of the government, then the creativity is the path to achieve it.

Further every country’s overall growth is dependent on Research and development (R&D), thus creativity is not an option but a necessity. But despite its significance, it cannot be denied that there exists a demand for creativity in the market.

Reasons for the creativity famine

As mentioned before, creativity is a form of out-of-the-box thinking. But it takes a moment for oneself to think out-of-the-box. That moment is a luxury of time. But unfortunately, the traditional education system seldom gives that moment, i.e. the time to stop and think.

It seems only to make the students race to obtain grades and certificates rather than acting as a transformational tool to shape oneself into skilled thinker. Such race leaves very little room to pause and think, thus letting the transformation, to rarely occur. The certificates may obtain the student a job, but for persisting in that job and excelling in that, transformation becomes necessary. Such transformation requires constant self-reflection through the thought process.

This helps both in the job and in life because the evolving challenges require adaptable methods to tackle them. This shows the significance of the role of creative thinking in achieving such an adaptability.

Thus, the goal of a good education system must be to prepare its citizens to transform themselves into creative thinkers rather than rote learners.

Attaining such an education system needs the rewiring of the traditionally followed colonial education model in most of India. A more flexible curriculum may be suitable for students that might help them control their course choices and the pace at which they finish their courses. This might make the learning more relevant, engaging, and transformational in this new age. The National Education Policy, 2020 is widely considered to have many promising solutions like the above feature including other ones like Academic Bank of Credits, multidisciplinary learning approach, multiple entry and exits, etc. This scheme aims to grow more active thinkers over rote learners, whose role is more relevant in this globalized world than ever before.

Creativity is not a bolt out of blue but a butterfly coming out of a cocoon. From apples to the bangles, paper to the cattle dung, soda cans to stone, every single mundane object could be turned into something magical if it is seen beyond its utility. And such an out-of-box thinking makes creativity different from general thinking. It also becomes necessary for the growth and prosperity of an individual, a society, a country, and the world. But unfortunately, it is lacking in many individuals as the education system has mostly restricted their time to pause and think out-of-box. A strong educational reform can help transform the rote learners into creative thinkers, who can be resilient, adaptive, and can solve the problems posed by this ever complex and interconnected global village. Creativity is not a certificate course, but a thinking skill that tries to reimagine the reality of the mundane into the magic!

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The Empires of the future will be the empires of the mind

 

            “Mind is mightier than the sword!” The old saying that fits well in the context of what the future empires will be made of. Historically, those powerful nations that dominated had either a powerful army, or navy vessels or nuclear weapons as evident during the world war era. But at present and eventually in the future, it will be the mind that will dominate. But in all the above also, we had a mind that was behind the creation of those tools that led to the pursuit of power, isn’t it? Then, how will the future mind be different from those?

            During those times, a person feels “Eureka moment” while discovering something. And such a discovery intentionally or unintentionally becomes the start of the power conflict. Take in the case of steam engine. Its invention eventually led to the Industrialization which in turn led to colonization. Thus, making a tool for transportation into that of Imperialism.

            But now, the case is different. Most of the inventions are intentional and purposeful. Thus, the process is getting more and more competitive. So, mind requires more processing power and speed. So, recognizing the limitations of the brain capacity of humans, modernized supercomputers named AI comes to aid human.

            Take the case of ChatGPT’s Image creator. Now, it can create an image if you feed in with your specifications in the form of data. But it can also make its own changes. Which means the outcome consists of the inputs of 2 minds – one is of yours and other one is of the AI’s. This is why the future empire will be the empire of mind – let me correct it – empire of “minds”.

           This gives rise to the Data(s) model of livelihood where the people’s data becomes crucial for service delivery. Say for example, you order a pizza online. Your address, phone number and payment details are becoming necessary for the home delivery of the pizza. But is it guaranteed that these data will not be used beyond pizza delivery? Are you sure the right to be erased as part of Article 21 is followed in spirit beyond in letter?

            If you think so, let me remind you about the 2018 Google’s Data leak that exposed the personal data of millions of users. Why would a corporate company have to store all these personal data beyond its primary purpose for which it was collected?

            The answer lies in the customer calls and the personalized Ads you get. Immediately in your browser, a Ad pops up showing “25% Discount for Domino’s Pizza if bought New movie ticket”. This is how the corporates commercialize our private data. This is a form of “Data Imperialism” with which the superpowers like US and emerging superpowers like China tries to dominate the world.

            Those old times, a war was necessary for imposing dominance. Now, a “Blue Whale Challenge” is more than sufficient to manipulate people by controlling their private data as evident in COVID times. If there is another world war, it may more likely be fought with personal data more than bullets and bombs!

            But a coin always has 2 sides and so is the scope of the future minds.

Human-AI Interface

            Despite all the warnings, Ghost stories and fiction thriller narratives about the AI against humans like Terminator series, we cannot deny the opportunities it presents.

            Take in the case of healthcare. The Robotics has aided the Doctors in disease detection, patient-health monitoring and in complex surgeries like cardiac surgery.  The Compassionate nature of humans combined with the Surgical Precision of the robots in treating the patients made the hospitals truly a temple.

            One other such successful Human-AI interface was seen in Education field. In a school in Kerala, classes are taken by regular staffs. But the staffs cannot be with students all the time. Thus comes “Iris” the AI teacher to fill the vacuum by helping students get their doubts cleared anytime.

            This does not end here. The opportunities presented by the Human-AI Interface goes beyond imagination. Who would have thought a Bandicoot Robot would come to rescue the Safai karamcharis from Manual scavenging!

            Further these Interfaces will increase manifolds by the IndiaAI Mission which intends to build an AI empire in India. Thus, the opportunities are nothing short of imagination but it is mandatory to have a handle to wield the sword effectively in a way it does not harm the user.

String the puppet

            In this new era of dual minds, the stringing of the AI is crucial for maximum benefits with minimized harm. But since this age of AI has already begun, a swift action becomes necessary.

            Already Corporates like Google, Meta, X (formerly called twitter) are having Monopoly in the Digital Market and thus dictating the pace of Digital Economy. For example, You-tube algorithms can make you see what makes it profitable. It is important for India to bring key regulations to ensure free and fair market together with ensuring competition. Consumer protection Act, Digital data protection Act, and Competition Act etc. aid in doing so.

            In long-term, these market regulations need to be accompanied by domestic search engine developments like “Quamu”. Further data localization measures to protect the privacy of the users can instill confidence in digitalization.

            To build an empire, the regulations must be accompanied by innovation. This needs critical thinking which can be sparked during school education. In that way, the National Education Policy (2020), Atal tinkering labs and Atal Incubators fosters creativity among students to think beyond rigid curriculum. The one nation one subscription scheme also provides nationwide access research articles and journals thus facilitating high quality research opportunities.

            Inventions may be crucial for building the empire, but such assets need to be protected from misuse to sustain the empire. Securing the Intellectual property rights of the owners is important to foster further scientific temper among the researchers. This is done by GI tags, copyrights, trademarks, etc. and further by curbing Bio-piracy to safeguard the rights of Indigenous people.

            Final thing is to have a robust defense mechanism. Not the army, but the cyber-defense to shield against the cyber-attacks. One potential measure can be to introduce Indian cyber police service (ICPS) as a part of UPSC CSE. This will attract talented cyber-crime specialist into the service with added advantage of reduced cost of training as already they have required specialization in that field.

            This empire of the future will be the one with the mind that will be different from the past consisting of Human-AI Interface. Potential for challenges and threats may not be short of our expectations but it is also equally true that such threats can be effectively domesticated to bring us opportunities. Thus, recognizing that the foundation stone for the future empire has been laid already by the IndiaAI program, we need to build upon that swiftly to attain our goal by 2047 – the Viksit Bharat era.

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