Is Technology Limiting Creativity? (oh, the irony)
Technology is exhausting. And I don’t even care to keep up half the time. New styles, genres, platforms, strategies, plugins…I’m tired. But I’m also curious——in all this noise, what’s enduring?
Is AI taking away creative work? Is it replacing the very essence of human imagination, tinkering and project building?
Is technology limiting creativity?
I don’t think so. And I think a lot of people (not just artists) are tired.
Creativity (in its most basic pure sense) is enduring.
Just maybe, technology (and not just AI) is enhancing our creative potential by forcing us to embrace our unpolished imperfect weird human side.
But it takes conscious effort.
Let’s dig into this.
Is Technology Limiting Creativity? (no lol)
“Putting limits on creativity is one of the best ways to boost creativity.”
The idea that technology is limiting creativity is ironic. Because limits inherently boost creativity.
Limits force outside-the-box thinking and innovation. When we’re backed into a corner, we find interesting (novel) ways out.
We use this trick in creative work all the time. For example, limiting artwork to just two colors or a song with only a few notes.
Most problems or limitations have more than one solution.
There’s even research and plenty of examples to back this up:
Green Eggs and Ham was written with the challenge of using only 50 words
Miles Davis wrote a whole album (Kind of Blue) without any chords
The idea (and strategy) of ‘less is more’
The idea that technology (like AI) starves creativity is falling apart.
Because if it does limit our purpose, role and abilities, then this should actually spark more creativity and novelty.
Explore more:
➤ The Creativity Cycle, AI + Story
Is AI Making Us More Human?
Maybe we went too far this time. AI is pretty cool for a lot of things (automating boring life stuff, streamlining workflows, making Will Smith eat spaghetti…).
But something interesting is happening in the creative spaces where I spend most of my time.
One, AI is mostly just annoying slop that people are starting to hate.
And two, said slop is sparking a serious preference for real human-made stuff (at least, for the important stuff).
Technology like AI is expanding our creativity in a surprising way: it’s making us more human. A sort of back-to-the-roots moment.
Again, not everywhere and not for everyone. But within the context of creativity? For sure.
Human creativity. It means keeping the embellishments, the errors, the quirks and the mistakes. Raw human experiences are guiding our projects--not some prompt based on armchair “artistry”.
(tell me how you really feel, right? lol)
This is part of why I love punk ideology and the lofi lifestyle. It’s an appreciation for unpolished, aesthetic (human!) work.
Creative work without the pain, growth, vulnerability and soul of the artist is empty.
Plus, the human creative process isn’t algorithmic. It’s intuitive, often doing the exact opposite of all previous training or data.
Drunk technological innovation could be prompting stronger humanity.
I don’t know what the future looks like. But I’m not too worried about human creativity these days.
Because there are some things that AI will never replace.
Alright, that’s all I’ve got for this one.
Later ✌️
Want More? Nice. Here’s More.
