Because the human mind is so complex and because our brains have evolved to use simple patterns and sensory inputs to generate new, complex information, we now believe that the more complicated things get, the more innovative they must be.

We have mistakenly confused complexity with creativity and we think that in order to find the solution to any problem, one must solve the most intricate puzzle in the world to reach it.

These are assumptions about creativity that we still believe in, despite scientists having told us about how elegantly simple, yet effective ideas lead to tremendously innovative solutions, throughout history.

There are a few laws (discovered) in this universe and mostly all of them talk about simplicity.

Complicated things don’t work for a long time. But we love complicated things because they keep our mind busy. What we do need instead is functional, simple patterns that can be applied in various fields of knowledge and in various dimensions of our everyday life.

II.
Being adaptive means that you can assimilate the change and adjust yourself (i.e. your own set of ideas, your behavior and even your body) to the slightest change in the environment, in the shortest time. The species that do not adapt, do not survive, because the environment does not wait for those organisms who can’t keep up with its laws and dynamics.

In the same sense, in the human realm, being adaptive has several implications for the individual per se: it means that one has got to expect changes in his environment and effectively react to those changes. Luckily, there is a set of constant changes that he has to adapt to throughout his life (like the ontogenetically determined phases of childhood, adolescence and adulthood), to which we all have the solution. Previous generations have gone through similar changes, so they can give us advices and help us adapt.

Time Spiral by Strange Wax on Flickr

check this photo here

Similar experience exchange processes happen in even more general, more comprehensive circles of human existence, such as in: the socio-economical phases of a society, the cultural ups and downs of a group, the life cycle of a whole civilization.
III.

There is a connection between creativity and adaptiveness and that becomes only obvious in crisis situations, when previous solutions do not seem to work any more. For example, we are used to solve the distance problem between us and our friends by taking the car and drive to their home. This is what we call “paying a visit”; it is a very adaptive solution and switching on the engine is something that we take for granted.

What happens if one day we realize the fuel is so expensive we cannot afford it? And not only us, but also 50% of the world’s population just realized that they have already depleted the world’s petroleum resources? What adaptive behavior can we display then?

Perhaps using alternative energy would be at the same time creative and adaptive, until we get used to this adaptive behavior which, in a crisis situation, used to be creative.

IV.
One real problem that we should take into consideration is NOT how to make this world a better place to live in, but what should we do to stop taking for granted things which have worked for too long and start thinking in a new, adaptive and creative way.

We can see the signs of change everywhere. The world is already changing to a huge extent and we see it but we can’t yet recognize it, and that can be dangerous. Technology has already taken us by surprise, the social life seems go through a new phase and we are absorbing all this change without displaying the right amount of adaptive behavior, if we can put it this way.

So making the world a better place to live in should not be a matter of comfort and health, I believe, it should be a matter of teaching the individuals how to be creative and use that creativity in constructive, adaptive ways.

We can see creative ideas being used in non-constructive ways, such as promoting the latest junk food products on the market. THIS is where we need to work on: we DO live in the best wolrd possible, we are TREMENDOUSLY lucky to have evolved, as the ONLY intelligent life form known so far.

All we have to do is use what best describes us as intelligent beings is the most constructive and simple ways possible.

WHEN CREATIVE ideas would be more than entertainment, our life principles would be more than conjectural formulations of sensory inputs… They would be the key to using the laws of universe and make them work for both us and the environment we live in.