Connected creativity

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When I was young, I loved to climb.  I fell out of a tree once – flat on my back, a bit winded, a bit scared – but I’m sure it didn’t completely stop me.  I remember more controlled leaps into the air as we jumped from large boulder to large boulder in our scrambles.

This post is building on my recent ponderings about creative insight.  It’s a selection of posts summarising a great documentary I saw but my Mum missed – Horizon’s “The Creative Brain: How Insight Works”, broadcast recently on SBS.  So far, I’ve written about the way creative insight is born in the right hemisphere of the brain, and the way information entering from the left eye is more likely to trigger creative insight.

Onwards …

Having worked that out, scientists then asked Why – why would the right hemisphere enable creative insight?

When a piece of information hits a spot in our brain, it doesn’t just sit there all by itself.  The brain then pulls in additional information and assistance to make sense of what’s happening.  On the right side, the length of this reach is greater than on the left.  More connections happen.  More information is harnessed.  Turns out, the right side of our brain contains a bigger play pen than the left.

When we’re trying to solve a maths equation, we only need the confined reach of the left hemisphere.  24 + 57 = 81.  We don’t need anything more than the basic rules of math.  In contrast, mathematics gurus who create complicated algorithms for the computer industry know just how much more space they need to solve problems and create innovation.

My photo play for today tries to capture this idea with a combination of scaffolding – one from a water tower at Murrumbatmum and the other from an old mining rig at the Kalgoorlie museum.  Did I mention that I loved to climb?

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But if I want to encourage you to think creatively about the possibilities available in our right brain connections, then I should flip the image.  Now, that solar flare gets through via the left eye and hits somewhere likely to trigger some creative thoughts!

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I’m wondering how much of this type of manipulation the advertising industry and spin merchants are using.  Scary?

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