I was directed by the delightfully creative Jeffery Baumgartner (he deserves his own awe inspired post…watch this space) to a recent article in Wired Magazine that Jonah Lehrer wrote entitled “Cultivating Genius in the 21st Century“.
The basic premise of the article is that ideas are direct contributors to economic growth. Want better growth? Cultivate thinkers and idea makers.
“It is our creativity that generates wealth.”
You should if you have the time and inclination pop over and read the article – but looking at clusters of genius over history – it seems the secret is in the presence of ‘meta-ideas’. Concepts and ideas that suport the spread of other ideas.
Now I don’t know about you but I feel that the internet is one great big ginormous fertilized field of meta-ideas! Sure there is lots of dross and stuff that perhaps is a waste of time – but I have been able to connect with some amazing thinkers and people that I would never ever ever have met otherwise and my mind has been opened to possibility and excitement and…yes…my creativity is stimulated on a regular basis by the internet meta-idea pool.
So the ‘creativity blueprint for the 21st century’ that Lehrer asserts:
- Human mixing – urbanization and now the internet make a ‘wide diversity of people to share ideas’.
- Education – new forms of teaching and learning.
- Risk taking – tolerating failure is the path to discovering moments of great genius.
Who hasn’t heard the classic Einstein quote regarding his failed attempts at the light globe?
“I have not failed 700 times. I have not failed once. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.”
The dispute over the exact manner of the quote, if he even said it or not is irrelevant. The point is that we know for a fact he tried, he failed, and he tried again and again and again! Risk taking.
As parents it is our duty to encourage our children to think creatively – arts participation allows for risk taking, art clases and groups allow for mixing – opportunities to collaborate in groups. Finally participation in arts provides new ways of learning, encouraging new ways to explore media, creativity, ideas and concepts. Lets not leave it up to the schools to provide our geniuses…develop a creativity blueprint for your home and help grow the world a new genius!
I can’t wait for my copy of Jonah Lehrer’s new book to arrive…even the title is captivatingly ‘right up my alley’ so to speak. He has written a few books that I have devoured, I’ll let you know how I go with this one when it arrives.