Fredrik Härén's Blog, page 19

Creativity to the Power of Computers. (AI Jokes and More) (The Creativity Explorer. Episode 144)

People have for years been saying that “When AI comes we have to do what the computer can not do, which is to be creative.”I never really understood that. I think AI will be able to do many things that we look at as creative. (And now we are seeing Ai create things like songs and illustrations and design buildings that many people would describe as “Creative”.)With the launch of Chat GPT (https://chat.openai.com/chat) we have reached another milestone in AI  (they seem to come very rapidly lately)For fun I asked the AI chatbot to write me a joke about Creativity. It came up with:

“Why was the idea arrested? Because it had a lot of great concepts, but no substance.”

“Why did the idea go to the doctor? Because it was a little sketchy.”Not bad. Not great, but way better than what I could come up with in a few seconds…I also asked it to “Write a short manifesto about the potential of AI to help humans become more creative.”It gave me this:“AI has the potential to help humans become more creative by providing new tools and methods for generating and evaluating creative ideas. With its ability to analyze and interpret large amounts of data quickly and accurately, AI can help humans identify patterns and trends that may not be immediately apparent, providing new inspiration and insights for creative problem-solving. Additionally, AI can be used to evaluate and assess creative ideas based on specific criteria, helping humans to refine and improve their ideas in ways that would not be possible without the assistance of AI.Furthermore, AI can help to democratize creativity by providing new and affordable tools and platforms for individuals and communities to generate and share their creative ideas. By leveraging the power of AI, everyone can have access to the same level of support and guidance for their creative endeavors, regardless of their background, experience, or resources.In conclusion, the potential of AI to help humans become more creative is vast and exciting, and it is up to us to seize this opportunity and use AI responsibly and ethically to unlock our full creative potential.”I also asked it to be answer the question in fewer words:“AI can augment human creativity by providing new ways to generate and evaluate ideas. AI algorithms can identify patterns in data, and evaluate creative ideas based on criteria like novelty and usefulness. AI can also democratize creativity by providing affordable tools and platforms. Overall, AI has the potential to help humans become more creative.”The AI development will create amazing advances for humanity. It might also create some really bad things. We will soon find out.I know one thing for sure, playing around with the latest AI tools has fueled my creativity this week. Go and play with it! Explore it.Fredrik Haren – The Creativity Explorer.

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Incurious (The Creativity Explorer. Episode 143)

“An incurious life is not a life. It might sound harsh, but it is true.”That was the message I got to bring home with me after having a beer in Tirana with Dritan Mezini, co-founder of Duapune, the largest recruitment site in Albania.Dritan is a very curious person and we had a lovely conversation about the need for curiosity to live a fulfilling life.And I learned a new word: “incurious”/ɪnˈkjʊərɪəs/ adjective: incurious not eager to know something; lacking curiosity. “as for who had written it, she was oddly incurious”The opposite of curious.What an important word.Do all you can to avoid becoming incurious!That was my insight from my recent visit to Albania.Keep Exploring. Discover your creative potential.Fredrik Haren – The Creativity Explorer.ps. And if you are curious, I suggest you check out the video to hear him deliver the message himself:https://www.linkedin.com/posts/fredrikharen_incurious-creativity-albania-activity-7003673657365401600-i-oW?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

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Creative Traffic Lights (The Creativity Explorer. Episode 142)

Look at old things in new ways.This text was inspired by a recent visit to Tirana. Albania.As I was exploring the city before my speech I noticed something different with the traffic lights.Instead of a “human standing still” at the red light for pedestrians, there was a “t”.Turns out that Tirana is the “European Youth Capital 2022” and Tirana went all in. They have had (and are having) a huge amount of events and that little “t-logo” is everywhere.Even on traffic lights!ps. Another interesting thing with the traffic lights in Tirana is that even the pole itself is lit up – making it even easier to see that it is red (or green). (And of course, they have the countdown clock, which is quite common in many countries, but that many countries still do not have.)Everything can be re-thought, re-developed, and improved.Even traffic lights.Never think that just because something has been around for a long time that there is no room for improvement.What old thing is it time for you to look at with fresh eyes?Fredrik Haren – The Creativity Explorer, just back from Tirana, Albania.ps. Keep Exploring Your Creativity to Discover Your Full Creative Potential.As always, comment on this post on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/creative-traffic-lights-look-old-things-new-ways-creativity-haren

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A Non-Negative Mindset – The Mindset for Creativity (The Creativity Explorer. Episode 141)

A negative mindset kills creativity.But so can a positive mindset; it sounds counterintuitive, but let me exemplify.Let’s take the accident on Apollo 13 when there was an explosion and rupture of an oxygen tank.A negative mindset (“Oh, no, we are all going to die!”) would have killed creativity.But a positive mindset (“Eh, it’s ok, this is nothing to worry about.”) would have killed not only creativity but the astronauts as well.So what kind of mindset should you have then?The answer is: a “non-negative mindset”.I learned about a “non-negative mindset” from Ervin Kalemi, the founder of Publer, a social media management platform founded in Albania.Ervin, who is Albanian, created Publer when he lived in the USA, but he moved back to Tirana to develop it into a company. I met with him at a café on the bank of one of the lakes in Tirana close to his office.When he moved back to Albania many people in his home country thought he had failed because he moved back from America. And when the company was still young they made fun of the small business he had.He still remembers how a friend of his dad laughed at him when he found out that Ervin, at the time, had just 50 paying customers. “This will never work”, he was told.Today Publer has over 100,000 customers, of which more than 10,000 are paying customers…Ervin looks at me and gives me a weary smile: “There is so much negativity here in Albania. That inspires me. I like the ups and downs of life. It’s challenging me.” Ervin tells me that his favorite thing as a child was rollercoasters.“All the rejections made me stronger”, Ervin told me. “I turn them into challenges.”If someone tells you they do not think you can jump over a cliff, you can choose to accept that as a fact, or you can look at it as a challenge. As if someone just challenged you to jump over the cliff.I asked Ervin how he built up immunity to negative comments from others to keep a productive, non-negative mindset focused on solving the problem.His top 3 list went:– Focus on what you want to do, not on what others are thinking.– Try to be a problem solver– And make sure you are spending your energy on solving the right problem.And then I added a fourth one:– Don’t worry about small things. And remember: What others think is always a small thing.In a world of negative people, rise above and become a non-negative person. A non-negative person is a person who focuses his or her creativity on solving problems, instead of being the problem, talking about the problem, or talking about people trying to solve the problem.The non-negative mindset when an oxygen tank explodes in space is: “We need to fix this, so how do we do that?”Always try to keep that mindset.

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The Power of Creativity Affirmations (The Creativity Explorer. Episode 140)

The following text was inspired by a conversation about creativity with Sonia Flynn of Zego whom I recently interviewed.The Power of  Creativity Affirmations Here is a simple way of getting people to become more creative: Have them affirm their own creative ability.A very large chunk of humanity does not believe they are creative. (In my 25 years of speaking on the topic of creativity I have asked over a million people if they think they are creative and almost 50% will not say “yes”.)The reason they do not believe they are creative can be many: They might just be shy or humble and actually believe that they are creative and just feel uncomfortable saying it. But my experience is that the vast majority of people who say that they are not creative actually believe this to be true.That is sad. Because it’s hard – virtually impossible – to be great at something that you yourself think you suck at.And it’s also unnecessary. As I think the belief that one is not creative can in many cases be easily overcome.One of the main reasons why people think they lack the ability to be creative is that they define creativity too narrowly.They might define “being creative” as knowing how to draw, and if they are bad at drawing they will not look at themselves as creative.Or they might define “being creative” as being “artistic,” and if they lack a talent for singing and/or playing an instrument they will define themselves as “uncreative”.And while visual creativity and artistic creativity are creative endeavors there are so many OTHER ways a person can be creative. By defining creativity too narrowly people deny themselves a skill they might actually have. (I will not here address that these people might actually be able to learn how to draw, dance or play an instrument which is a topic for another text. A growth mindset is a powerful way of becoming creative.)When someone defines “being creative” too narrowly ask them to look at their skills through a wider lens. Perhaps they are problem solvers, or skeptics, or dreamers, or detail finders, or contrarians, etc. There are so many different ways of being creative. By letting people define the way they are creative they can rebuild a creative confidence that they have lost.No one is creative in all ways, but everyone is creative in some ways.A simple way of getting people to reframe their approach about not being creative is to get them to affirm their creativity.  Here is one way you can do that: Before you begin a brain-storming session where people are expected to be creative 1) ask everyone to say one fun thing they did over the weekend. Then 2) ask them to identify what part of that fun activity could be described as unusual, unexpected and/or surprising. Then 3) have the person state the connection between the action and creativity. And finally 4) have them express and acknowledge that what they did was creative.For example:1) “A fun thing I did this weekend was to prank my son by hiding behind a curtain.”2) “He was very surprised when I jumped out and startled him.”3) “A surprising thing is a creative thing.”4) “I did something creative when I pranked my son.”Saying out loud that you did something creative, as silly as it might sound, is actually a very effective and quick way of boosting creative confidence.And creative confidence is crucial for being creative. You are not going to be curious, not have an open mind, not look for new solutions, and not inspire others to be creative unless you have confidence in your own creative abilities.But it is important that the creativity affirmation does not get stated without context. Just getting everyone to stand up and blurb out “I am creative!” is not going to work. It might even backfire. They need to start by thinking of something they just think of as fun and then connect that back to creativity.Creativity Affirmations can also work on yourself. The next time you start a new creative project write down the things you did on your last project that are examples of your creative abilities. It does not have to be examples of great successes, just of doing something in a different, unexpected, innovative or inspiring way. Big or small.The words we use to describe ourselves define how we think of ourselves. And how we think of ourselves affects who we become.So choose your words wisely. Especially around how you talk about your own creativity.

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Exploring Creativity with a Gamer. (The Creativity Explorer. Episode 139)

Today I was in Oslo, Norway, and had the privilege to share the stage with Joachim Haraldsen, aka “Noobwork”, of Heroic Group.Noobwork has more than 10 million views on his youtube channel, which is just amazing when you consider that the channel is in Norwegian and Norway only has 5 million people… (!)He is now building one of the world’s leading e-game companies in Heroic.I asked him about how playing computer games can help with developing one’s creativity.He said:“In gaming you can choose your own identity; you can choose who or what you want to be.And you have multiple of these identities and switch between them.”So how does that help develop creativity?According to Noobwork:“Every time you enter into a new identity your brain gives you a new perspective and new perspectives trigger your creativity.”I love that.Be inspired by gamers.Get more perspective!Develop multiple identities. There is not “one world” – there are unlimited number of worlds for you to live in (both in the physical world and the digital world).Thank you Joachim for giving me that perspective.Which new identity could you embrace?Fredrik Haren – The Creativity Explorer.ps. I have renamed my Linkedin newsletter to “The Creativity Explorer” and will post my insights into creativity there going forward.If you prefer to also get these posts on creativity there you can sign up at: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/the-creativity-explorer-6967407670718816256/

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A Rallying Call For Creativity (The Creativity Explorer. Episode 138)

A rallying call for creativity.

 

The old slogan of “reuse, reduce, recycle” is great. It reminds us, in an easy-to-remember way, about the need to live in a sustainable way.

 

But if we are really going to solve the climate challenge and create a world that is truly sustainable we need to think differently than just “reuse, reduce, recycle.”

 

We need to think bigger, better, and bolder.

 

Let me instead propose this easy-to-remember slogan: Innovate, Inspire, Invest.

 

Innovate – we do not just need to, for example, reduce our use of oil; we need to come up with innovative solutions that are way better than oil. May it be practical hydrogen, better biofuels, or us cracking the code to fusion. We dramatically need to innovate how we grow food, and so on.

 

Inspire – we will not get people to change by asking them to sacrifice their way of life. Instead of asking them to reduce what they use, we need to inspire them to look for, and adopt, solutions that are better than what they have today – better both for themselves and for the environment.

 

And finally, we need to:

 

Invest – recycling is wonderful, but the challenges we stand in front of now will not be solved by getting people to just recycle their aluminum cans. We need to get them to redirect their savings toward green tech investments. The green revolution is – finally – here and entrepreneurs are ready to make it happen. The more money they get to kick-start the revolution the faster it will happen.

 

The word “sustainable” means “to able to be maintained at a certain rate or level.”

 

But we need to go for “Amazable” where we are “able to create amazing improvements at an impressive rate and on all levels.”

 

We need the opposite of “sustainable”, we need fundamental transformation. We need mindset-shifting creativity. We need wow-look-at-that-!-innovation.

 

“Sustainability” is often defined as us “meeting our own needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

 

We should aim far higher than that.

 

We should aim for us to create a world that exceeds our wildest dreams while at the same time creating a future where the generations who will follow us can exceed the wildest dreams of their own.

 

Let’s Innovate, Inspire, and Invest ourselves to a way better world.

 

Fredrik Haren – The Creativity Explorer

 

(This text was inspired by attending the Planetech conference in Israel, by interviewing a number of senior leaders in large organisations around sustainability and creativity, and by noticing the fundamental shift that has happened in companies over the last 18 or so months towards embracing and acting on the Sustainable Development Goals.)

 

ps. Please leave your comments on this text at: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/activi...

 

Would love to hear your view.

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Creativity is Everywhere (The Creativity Explorer. Episode 137)

What can we learn about creativity from an archaeologist?

 

Yesterday I spoke on creativity for The Historical Museums of Sweden, an organisation that consists of a number of historical museums and of the archaeologist of Sweden.

 

As part of my research, I interviewed an archaeologist about why creativity is important in their job.

 

He said: “We have to be able to walk into a landscape and by looking at it be able to create an image of what this land looked like 10,000 years ago, 1,000 years ago and 500 years ago – all at the same time. To create multiple images of the same landscape throughout time, so that we can make an estimate of where people would have lived and worked during different times.

 

Basically, archaeologists imagine the past – in a multitude of layers.

 

I like that.

 

It reminds me that creativity is never about finding ONE answer.

 

Creativity is never about having ONE perspective.

 

It’s the ability to be able to keep multiple points of view simultaneously.

 

What other points of view would you benefit from taking?

 

Fredrik Haren – The Creativity Explorer.

 

ps. I was delighted to see that the group of archaeologist and history museum employees were one of the most creative groups I have had as an audience in a long time. Creativity truly is everywhere. Very inspiring.

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Ideas Island in a Commercial (The Creativity Explorer. Episode 136)

As you know Ideas Island has gone 100% solar. The provider of our solar-system, Victron Energy, fell in love with the island (and my other island) and made a video about it.

 

Check out some stunning footage of Ideas Island: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-z-iY1jZNo

 

It’s also a great video about the Energy Transformation that is happening right now in the world.

 

The next 10-15 years will be very very interesting when it comes to energy innovation. The Digital Transformation was huge, but The Energy Transformation will be bigger. 

Let’s make it happen.

 

As an early adopter, I transitioned to 100% solar way back in 1999, and now I have upgraded my system to a brand new, modern system from Victron Energy. 

 

Quote from the film: “I grow my own energy”.

 

Fredrik Haren – The Creativity Explorer

 

p.s. Ideas Island is now closed for the season. Apply again in early 2023 if you want to stay on the island in 2023.

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Pronuncification – The Moment When We Truly Decide to Actually Make an Idea Happen (The Creativity Explorer. Episode 135)

To procrastinate – to “put forward to tomorrow” – is one of the big killers of creativity.

 

Imagine all the ideas you would get done if you just got around to making them happen the moment you have the idea.

 

But that’s not going to happen, is it?

 

Instead of put plans off, we postpone our dreams, we decide to focus on something else and a million other reasons for why we do not make our ideas happen.

 

But then.

 

Suddenly.

 

Almost like magic: We make up our minds to actually make the idea happen.

 

This is a crucial aspect of the creative process.

 

A moment that has not been given enough attention and appreciation.

 

And certainly not been given a name.

 

Until today.

 

I call it: “Pronuncification” – as in “to put forward to now”. (“Nunc” is Latin for now.)

 

I will give you an example:

 

More than ten years ago we build an amazing new house full of glass, right next to the water on our island. We love every aspect of this house. 

 

Except for one thing: The door!

 

For some reason, we installed a sliding door that was hard to open and even harder to close. And when it did close it did not close properly.

 

For years we thought about changing it, we talked about changing it, we decided to change it. But nothing happened.

 

And then – just a few weeks ago, I said to my wife: “Ok, that’s it! we are getting a new door! Then I went online, ordered it and had it shipped. 

 

Today we got it installed.

 

I love it. We all do. Especially the kids who can not open and close the door without a problem.

 

As much as I love this new door, I love even more that I finally got around to fixing our door problem.

 

That I stopped procrastinating and started to “Pronuncicate”

 

What’s that one thing you should be doing?

 

Go and do it.

 

 

Fredrik Haren – The Creativity Explorer

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