Creative Computers – does such an entity exist? Before this question can be answered, we need to look at the definition of both the words Creative and Computer.
“Creative thought is a mental process involving creative problem solving and the discovery of new ideas or concepts, or new associations of the existing ideas or concepts, fuelled by the process of either conscious or unconscious insight.”
“From a scientific point of view, the products of creative thought (sometimes referred to as divergent thought) are usually considered to have both originality and appropriateness. Source = (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creativity)
From the above definitions it is clear that the creative process or creativity is traditionally associated with the human mind. Can this creative process somehow be build into a computer?
“A computer is a programmable machine that receives input, stores and manipulates data/information, and provides output in a useful format.”
Based on this definition from Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer) it would certainly seem possible that a computer can be creative as it is able to manipulate data. The problem with this is that the manipulation of data takes place in a way that is determined by the software that the computer is executing. In its simplest form software is a set of rules that goes something like ‘if this happens, then do that’. This manipulation that the computer does with data or information is not creative as it will not generate new ideas or concepts
The closest that computers can get to creativity is through so called Artificial Intelligence. According to Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_intelligence), “Artificial intelligence (AI) is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. The field was founded on the claim that a central property of humans, intelligence, can be so precisely described that it can be simulated by a machine. Central problems of AI include such traits as reasoning, knowledge, planning, learning, communication, perception and the ability to move and manipulate objects.”
Creativity, in my view, presents an even bigger challenge to the problems mentioned above.It is clear that Creative Computers in its purest form do not exist, nor is it likely that they will be developed in the near future. Ultimately, creativity stays squarely in the domain of human thinking. Paradoxically, the challenge of creating a Creative Computer might ultimately be solved by the human mind’s ability to think creatively.
If we however look at the term Creative Computers in the context of the name or slogan of a company, the interpretation will vary substantially. In this context the term could take on the meaning “using or applying computers creatively”. When coupled with an additional phrase, for example Creative Computer Training or Creative Minds Computer Training, then the meaning once again changes dramatically.
In either example mentioned above, the context leads to a human mind having the creativity and then applying it to involve computers in some way or another.
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