Creativity Can Save the World
How are imagination and the global economy connected? Well, if you're a Hollywood producer, you'd know that the highest grossing films of all time tend to fall in the fantasy/imagination/sci-fi genre. Think, Harry Potter, Spiderman, Lord of the Rings and Star Wars. The studios behind these blockbuster franchises know that they're virtually certain to get a good return on their investment both in the States and overseas.
But beyond the box office, how else is imagination linked to a robust economy? As the global economy shrinks and America's economy contracts, smart businesses have started to focus on the need to reinvent how we think, injecting more creativity and non-linear thinking into the workplace. Writers like Daniel Pink, author of A Whole New Mind, point to a new trend called the "imagination economy." Creative, right brain thinking, they say, is how we can protect Americans from outsourcing, reinvigorate our economy, and regain our place in the world as the incubator for innovation and ideas.
At the 2006 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the theme was "The Creative Imperative." This took place a couple of years before the world economy went into freefall. But even in the good times before TARP entered the vernacular and General Motors went bankrupt,
economic experts touted creativity as the must-have for future world financial strength and growth.
As children we embrace imagination and play, but as we get older, imaginative and creative pursuits tend to be quashed or stymied by the pressures and sometimes sheer monotony of adult work life. Creativity can seem like an indulgence. It's never lost on me that the child who
builds a fantastical city out of Legos and makes music out of pots and sticks is applauded for demonstrating ingenuity and imagination, while the dad who jams with his "band" or reads graphic novels on vacation is chastised as the child who refuses to grow up.
In our bleak economic times with unemployment rising to a scary nine-plus percent, perhaps the only thing many people are fantasizing about is how to pay their bills or keep their jobs. But we all need escapism now more than ever -- not just for entertainment, but for inspiration.
President Obama is reportedly a big Spiderman fan. Perhaps he fancies himself as the webbed superhero who can save us all from the likes of the Joker or, in this case, Ahmadinejad's so-called evil ways. Between the nuclear threat of North Korea, the polar ice caps melting, and the economy crumbling, clearly America is in need of a superhero right now -- a creative, imaginative leader who can think in a non-linear way. And while President Obama probably doesn't have the time to engage in any right brain hobbies in the Oval Office, the President has admitted to reading Harry Potter to his daughters each night. That in itself may not save the American auto industry - but perhaps it may help stir his imagination to come up with new ideas to help solve the world's problems.
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The power of imagination is the power to change the world.
I've been making a movie about the power of imagination, and the lack of teaching creative thinking in U.S. schools, for a year now and the film is done and ready for release. See preview here http://www.imagineitproject.com/video/index.htm
What Dave says is exactly right, and he's not alone. The film features dozens of creative people from the arts, science, technology and education including Blue Man Group founders, Ray Kurzweil, Sir Ken Robinson, Ed Catmull (Pixar prez), X Prize founder Peter Diamanids, Charles Vest, former prez of MIT, John Hennessy, pres. of Stanford, Michael Shellenberger, author of Breakthrough, James Canton, author Extreme Future, among many others who all make the case that we have to inspire the next generation to imagine the world a better place then engage in making that happen.
Teaching to tests (ie No Child Left Behind) is no way to encourage intellectual curiosity in anyone let along kids.
Imagination is how humans got from "caves" to "cities," from "bone clubs" to "golf clubs," and from eating "carrion" to eating "cusine."
"Creativity is a primary measure of our humanity." --Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Forgot put my name to my post (imagineitproject), here it is...Richard T, producer imagine it!² The Power of Imagination.
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Really incredible comment - definitely going to share your project with others. So inspiring!
Thank you!
Creativity, as applied to the solution of problems, tends to seek simplicity. Unfortunately, the complication of things is where the profit lies. Ask any lawyer.
Thing is the truly creative amongst us may have no interest in saving hedge funds, derivatives and the status quo.
Ryan Grim, from the Huffington Post pages, suggests that 'Thinking differently--or learning to Think Different, as a Jobs slogan has it--is a hallmark of the acid experience.'
So, Hollywood fantasy or LSD are the answers to the economic downturn?!..
Really desperate times for creativity...
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While I'm not sure creativity can save the "world," it certainly cultivates greater mindfulness. But change, discovery, and exploration (turning creativity into action), especially when uncertainty dominates, takes incredible inner courage.
On a more creative note... Walt Disney said it best:
“Around here, however, we don’t look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things, because we’re curious… and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.”
yes yes
you can say it
but were it not for the inventor, the artist, the poet, the musician
reaching out into the unknown
and bringing to us
the dream and the dreamer
what darkness might there be...
Here's creativity in this day: I'm thinking about stopping mortgage payments until I'm evicted. The net result? I'll have stockpiled an enormous amount of money and the Mortgage lender who doesn't want to work with me will FAIL big time.
That's creativity in these times.
Yeah
That's weird
Spider-Man fights the Joker?
Does he live in Metropolis too?
Some crossed wires there I think.
I agree with your point...but why the idiotic renaming of your channel? Sy Fy??? It's meaningless, and insulting to science fiction fans. Was that one extra letter just too much weight to bear?
Can't trademark words in common usage, so you create a new one or spell it differently.
Agreed. The carrying of non-science fiction things is also troubling. Wrestling and ghost chasing don't belong at all -- and aren't very creative.
Well, after having read this little bit of heaven it's no mystery as to why SyFy's programming is so dreadful. Was this written by an 8 year old?
I'm a big fan of science fiction and fantasy that's why I find the vast majority of SyFy's programming such utter crap. And since when did Spiderman save anybody from the likes of the Joker?
If we are talking creativity, then can erm...."SyFy" please stop showing stuff like "MEGALODON 3: THIS TIME IT'S MORE PERSONAL" and other rubbish?
Do you still control the rights to the "Sci Fi" name? What I want to know is if someone else can use it now that you have thrown it away.
Perhaps someone that appreciates the syens part of syens fiction, as opposed to horror movies, ghost shows and studio wrestling.
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