Gadi Alexander BenGurion University, Israel gadabgu.ac.il

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Computers and creativity a possible marriage?
SFU SURREY, NOVEMBER 2005

• Gadi Alexander _at_ Ben-Gurion University, Israel
  gada_at_bgu.ac.il

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Can computers be creative?
In what ways could computers affect the users
creativity?
Can computers help us understand human creativity?
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Why is the question of computer creativity so
important to AI developers.
If machines cannot be creative, then they cannot
have "minds of their own", in the sense of being
able to generate their own ideas, and it is
difficult to see how a system that cannot
generate its own ideas can be intelligent. This
would be the end of AI's aspirations to develop
intelligent machines.
Why is it important to cognitive science?
Equally, if machines cannot be creative, this
would be the end of the French Enlightenment
vision of Man as a Machine. This would deal a
body blow to cognitive science, which tries to
provide computational simulations of human
cognitive processes.
Source Terry Dartnall, in Dictionary of
Philosophy of the Mind. online
www.artsci.wustl.edu/philos/MindDict/creativity.h
tml
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1. The AI context
Can computers be creative?
What are critics saying?
a machine could never be creative (A computer
can only) perform a task that can be described
via sufficiently specific rules.
Roger Schank (1990). 0nline at
www.kurzweilai.net.
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What are AI developers saying?
We will need to come up with an algorithmic
definition of creativity.
Although the idea of a human or machine
exhibiting creativity by following a set of rules
seems to be a contradiction, this is not
necessarily so.
AI The science of making machines do things
that would require intelligence if done by
people (Minsky, 1968).
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Can a computer create?
Examples from AI applications
David Cope music composed by a
computer http//imagine.xs4all.nl/bram/mozart/
Elsewhere Creative (?) article
production http//www.elsewhere.org/cgi-bin/postmo
dern
plot-o-matic Automatic movie scripting http//www.
maddogproductions.com/plotomatic.htm
Could reshuffling of cubes or combinatorics
produce a creative product?
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Aaron a creative painting machine at work.
More AI Examples
Would you pay 2000 for this picture?
Ownership Who is the real painter?
Would you hang this picture in your living room?
Validity relevance
http//www.kurzweilcyberart.com
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What is creativity?
The ability to make or otherwise bring into
existence something new, whether a new solution
to a problem, a new method or device, or a new
artistic object or form. Britannica
Some add intention or idea that the creator
has. Others add value or relevance of the
product.
Guilford (1956) Torrance,(1966,1993)
suggest factors that allow to evaluate creative
products.
Fluency, flexibility, originality redefinition,
elaboration, relevance.
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What is creativity?
An approach called creative cognition Smith,
Ward, Finke sees creativity as A cognitive
process based on reorganization of previous
knowledge rather than on sudden insight and
intuition.
Does this approach help to discover creativity
within the logic and computational combinations
offered by AI?
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What makes these AI applications creative?
A new work is produced in an instance. Fluency,
originality?
The works are different from each other.
Flexibility
They display a detailed finished product
Elaboration
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Ada Byrons 4 Questions
A digression
Historical roots of the computational model
1815-1852
1. Could computers change our ideas about
creativity?
2. Can computers generate products that will at
least appear to be creative?
3. Will computers be able to identify a work as
creative when they encounter it?

• 4. Can computers be really creative?

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Ramon Lull (1232-1316), Spain.
Thinking is a computational process (It does not
proceed by syllogism).
Computational processes involve combining symbols.
Computation can be made mechanical.
Mathematical computations involve combinatorics.
Lull believed that the richness of displayed
combinations of the virtues of Christ will
convince Muslims to convert to Christianity.
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The Literary Machine as observed by Gullivers in
his VOYAGE TO LAPUTA, BALNIBARBI, LUGGNAGG,
GLUBBDUBDRIB AND JAPAN It was twenty Foot
Square, placed in the middle of the Room. The
Superficies was composed of several bits of Wood,
about the bigness of a Dye, but some larger than
others. They were all linked together by slender
Wires. These bits of Wood were covered on every
Square with Paper pasted on them, and on these
Papers were written all the Words of their
Language, in their several Moods, Tenses, and
Declensions, but without any Order. The Professor
then desired me to observe, for he was going to
set his Engine at Work. The Pupils at his Command
took each of them hold of an Iron Handle, whereof
there were fourty fixed round the Edges of the
Frame, and giving them a sudden turn, the whole
Disposition of the Words was entirely changed. He
then commanded six and thirty of the Lads to read
the several Lines softly as they appeared upon
the Frame and where they found three or four
Words together that might make part of a
Sentence, they dictated to the four remaining
Boys who were Scribes. This Work was repeated
three or four Times, and at every turn the Engine
was so contrived that the Words shifted into new
Places, as the Square bits of Wood moved upside
down. The Literary Engine
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Raymond Kurzweils Prophecies
The future What will happen to AI applications
in 2030?
How to Build a Brain

• A machine is likely to achieve the ability of a
  human brain in the coming years. (2030?)
• http//www.KurzweilAI.net

• We'll explore the possibilities of machine
  intelligence and exotic new technologies for
  faster and more powerful computational machines,
  from cellular automata and DNA molecules to
  quantum computing.

We'll also touch on the controversial area of
downloading your mind into computer.
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A Direct Brain Machine Connection

• AARPA
• Seeks to develop new technologies for augmenting
  human performance by accessing the brain in real
  time and integrating the information into
  external devices.

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The dual code remains the basis for digital
technology today
Computers use an internal binary code.

Which is transformed to a
A communicative display
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Computers dont operate in a vat
They compete with and complement other resources
They operate within a socio-cultural context
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The Human input
Computers are after all
products of human creativity.

• rule governed mediators of the creative
  process.

• They are projections and expressive extensions of
  our creative power.

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Sherry Turkle The Second Self, 1984. The
computer is a kind of Rorshach it allows the
expression of personality, and is both a
projective and a constructive medium. The
computer acts as a marginal object, not separate
from our expression of self, evoking unconscious
memories of the zone between self and non self.
As a new expressive medium, the computer is a
challenge, a mirror in which to reflect ourselves
and with which to create shared meaning in
society.

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In looking at specific domains of computer
applications such as games and simulations will
we be able to discover new affordances for
creative behavior?
Lets re-examine our 2nd question in this new
context In what ways could computers affect the
creativity of the user?
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Qualities of Good Games Zvi Freeman 1997

• imagination. A good game empowers your
• . A good game makes you feel in charge
• A good game is transparent.
• Immersion- You only feel your own mind, the other
  player
• and the ideas.
• A good game lets you into its creators
• Imagination.
• A good game lets its players feel each
• others personality.
• A good game fits the human being like
• a glove.

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Are games scaffolding or undermining our
creativity?
They offer
But they could undermine
our narrative sensibility.
fantastic worlds. heroes narratives.
the ability to tell the real from. the imagined
Interaction and immersion.
role play multiple identities.
many offline quality time activities.
affinity-groups distributed imagination.
our motivation to invest a mental effort.
www.gamespot.com/gamecube/strategy/pikmin2/media.h
tml
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Which theories could help us discuss the effect
of games on the creativity of the user?
fantastic worlds. heroes narratives.
Theories of modeling- Bandura.
Intrinsic motivation immersion-Amabile,
Paul-Gee.
Interaction and immersion.
Identity theories- Turkle, Suler, Lacan, Gofman.
role play multiple identities.
affinity-groups distributed imagination.
Socio-cultural theories- Vygotsky Activity
theory.
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How could digital productivity tools affect our
creativity?

Word processing
Spreadsheets
Hypermedia presentation
Web based production tools wikis, blogs, etc.
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Fluency, flexibility, originality, redefinition,
elaboration
Word processing
What does the ease of writing does to our fluency
How does the ability to edit review rewrite
affect our flexibility elaboration?
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The social context of creativity
The computer is increasingly used as a social
tool via CMC

• E-mail, chats, online conferences, collaborative
  design and writing, multi-player web based games
  , wikies, blogs, etc.

Does distributed creativity exist? How can
communities of users turn into communities of
creative thinkers?
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Before we depart- lets look again at our 3
questions.
Can computers be creative? Can computational
intelligence lead to original and new products?
What is the interface with computers doing to the
users creativity? Is the answer empirical?
theoretical?
Could the use of computers challenge some of our
ideas about the nature of human creativity?
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What Could Educators Do?
Cross their fingers and wait for the technology
to mature?
Show a genuine interest in the child-computer
interaction and its impact on imagination
Integrate games other applications in the
curriculum
Encourage students to use computers in projects
Reflect on creative vs. less creative HCIs-
(Human Computer Interfaces and interactions)
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What else could educators do?

• Integrate the web as a resource for imaginative
  ideas and critical assessment

Look for cognitive tools online Find examples of
stories, metaphors, gossip, humor etc.
Connect VR RL Communities of learners share
creative ideas and projects.
Scaffold distribute best practices of creative
thinking through collaborative writing design
,simulations, and use of case base scenarios.
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Thanks for the creative listening
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selected web sites
Aarons computer generated drawings
http//www.kurzweilcyberart.com/
Egans article on Memory ,Imagination and
Learning http//www.educ.sfu.ca/kegan/MemoryIm.htm
l
Sjogren Aarne Narrative in the New
Media http//www.beforetheflood.co.uk/feb05/newmed
ia.html
Kurzweils AI site http//www.KurzweilAI.net
Video Games and gamers http//www.jesperjuul.net/t
ext/gameplayerworld/
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Selected References

• Aleksander I. (2001) How to Build a Mind Toward
  Machines with Imagination, New York, Columbia
  University Press.
• Dartnall, T. H., ed. (1994), Artificial
  Intelligence and Creativity An Interdisciplinary
  Approach, Studies in Cognitive Systems series,
  Dordrecht Kluwer.
• Egan K. (1992). Imagination in Teaching and
  Learning. San Francisco, CA Jossey-Bass.
• Gee P.G (2003) What Video Games Have to Teach Us
  about Learning And Literacy, New York Palgrave
  ,MacMillan.
• Gordon D. Alexander G. (2005) The Education of
  Story Lovers Do Computers Undermine Narrative
  Sensibility? Curriculum Inquiry 35-2.
• Salomon G. Perkins D. Individual and Social
  Aspects of Learning. Review of Research in
  Education 23 ,1998.
•  
• Turkle, S. (1984) The Second Self. New York
  Simon Schuster
• (1995) Life on the Screen
  Identity in the Age of the Internet. New York
  Simon Schuster.