When human ideas lay the foundation of a better world carried out and improved by technology
Abstract
Building on the established societal phases 1.0 through 5.0, parallels are drawn to corresponding phases of human creativity. In particular, Creativity 5.0, the phase following the currently dominating Creativity 4.0 will to a dramatically larger extent involve collaboration by idea creators with experts in fields relevant to the idea. This collaboration is made possible by the evolution of AI information search engines to encompass also competence search and thus connecting networks of experts with ideas and practices evolving in or near their field of expertise and interest. Ideas will thus be cross-fertilised and spark additional ideas, thus perpetuating an environment much more inducive to creativity than the current system of peer-review and reference to sources before proceeding with assessment if an idea is viable.
Introduction
“Once upon a time there was a young boy who loved bees. Bees were his all and everything. He made stories about them, he made small houses for them, and he had an eclectic collection of bee related items – from the ephemeral to the eternal, from the weird and wonderful to the normal, from bee covers to bee games. If it was related to bees, this young lad was interested and carefully and passionately recorded it, kept it and played with it. As he grew older and became a lad, ready to take his education to the next level, he wanted to study more about bees. Find the sacred knowledge he had not yet found, think the thoughts he had not thought. There was very little he could study and essentially no one had ever made money on being modest beekeepers, however an eclectic collection they might have. Our lad therefore left his bees behind and instead studied more useful subjects such as IT and biology. The lad became a man: a man full of commitments, involvement in society and thoughts. He never forgot his bees, or the passion, but his collection was hidden away on a shelf in the far side of his attic. They were useful only in his mind and taken out on the sly when he was feeling down and wanted to find that bit of passion that he had tried to forget. Even though the things were tucked away, the internet did allow him to connect with others who loved bees. Days became years, and years became decades. The visits to the attic and the bees became less and less frequent but the interaction with his bee-loving community online continued. The thoughts also faded, though he did follow the news about the loss of bees due to pesticides. He read and pondered over these stories and feared for the bees. He wondered why people had spent so much time with machines yet never really looked at how they could solve the problems of the bees. People said bees were important, but why had it not been solved, and why were his beloved bees dying in droves? Suddenly one day, years on while discussing ideas with a friend over lunch and how they had been kept alive and indirectly nurtured through collective communities and global interest groups, he realised what he had known all along: the covers he had made for the bees while just a young lad. They were the answer. His friends had laughed and called him crazy back in the old days when ideas did not matter. Why would the bees need a cover? Had it been ignored because he was young and not good enough at explaining? Did he not know bees better then? Why had he hidden his ideas, his wonderful stories and innovations away in the attic when he had had the answer all along? He shook his head. He was still in the old days, when people feared sharing their ideas and collaborating. There really was no reason not to collaborate but in those days, people were afraid that machines would take the jobs. Funny really that he had not looked at what was happening today. He quickly went to his online bee community and put a brief plan together. The seed that was sown all those years ago and a combination of his reignited passion, the creative answers and the new technology available to tailor an environment that is more suitable for individual bees using modern technology merged with his friends’ ideas about heat conservation and micro-control actuators, and became a solution that would save the bees. A passion had been reignited, not just for him, but for a wider community of bee enthusiasts, insect specialists and into a somewhat esoteric group exploring novel ideas for sustainable buildings. The ideas were rolling in and a creative path was paved with the help of technology to save the bees and the quality of man and beast at large. It was not just his thoughts, but the combined thoughts. In old days they used to put computer power together to make machines do everything, but they forgot man; the ideas, the thoughts, and the collaborative approach to problem solving – not just problem solving but making life a better place.” This story, in its rather simplistic way, shows the importance of creativity and how, nurtured over time, it can make a difference to our world. Creativity has always been part of our lives and has taken a journey alongside societal changes.
Society 1.0 to 5.0
There is consensus that we are presently living in Society 4.0, with Society 1.0 being a hunter gatherer society, Society 2.0 being agricultural, Society 3.0 industrial and the present 4.0 focussing on information technology.
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