Creativity: Being Usefully Innovative in Solving Diverse Problems

Creativity in general can be defined as an ability or an occurrence. Either way, it refers to developing an alternative way of (1) explaining gravity, (2) writing a symphony, (3) lessening the problem of poverty, or (4) dealing with some other subjects. The distinctive aspect of a creative alternative is that it is better on whatever criteria are considered relevant than the alternatives that were previously being considered. A special kind of creativity involves not merely finding a better way of doing things, but of finding a way that exceeds the best initial expectations of whatever sides or viewpoints may have been in contention over how to deal with a problem. That kind of creativity can be referred to as super-optimising creativity. It does more than just find a new better or best alternative. It finds an alternative that is better than what the previous perspectives had as their best expectations, simultaneously across all those previous perspectives. Super-optimising creativity is closely related to super-optimising analysis which refers to methods that are useful in finding alternatives that are capable of exceeding the best expectations of all sides and viewpoints to dispute or dilemmas.

Stuart Nagel, Editor