This book is built on a simple premise: Most companies don't know what creativity really is, so they can't benefit from it. They lack creative clarity.
Creative clarity requires you to do four things:
1. Choreograph a creative strategy, describing a clear future even among the blurry business landscape.
2. Grow teams that include those creative, unpredictable outcasts; give them the space to produce amazing work; and build a unique form of trust in your company culture.
3. Institutionalize an iterative process of critique, conflict, and ideation.
4. Embrace chaos but manage creative spin and stagnation.
This book is primarily for people in charge of driving strategic change through an organization. If you are a line manager responsible for exploring a horizon of opportunity, the book will help you establish a culture of creative product development in which your teams can predictably deliver creative results. You'll learn methods to drive trust among your team members to enable you to critique and improve their work. And as an organizational leader, you'll complement your traditional business strategies with the new language and understanding you need to implement creativity in a strategic manner across your company.
In a creative environment, chaos is the backdrop for hidden wonderment and success. In this book, you'll gain clarity in the face of that chaos, so you can build great products, great teams, and a high-performing creative organization.
How does chaos influence creativity? How can “flow states” help teams manage feedback and achieve creativity?In this episode, Haley interviews designer, educator and author, Jon Kolko. Kolko shares details from his new book Creative Clarity: A Practical Guide for Bringing Creative Thinking into Your Company, which he wrote to help leaders and creative thinkers manage the complexity and chaos of the creative process. During his interview, he explains how elements of complex systems science, including emergence, constraints, feedback and framing, influence the creative process. He also provides many helpful tips for how to foster a culture of creativity within an organization.
Quotes from this episode:
“A constraint emerges from the creative exploration itself….these constraints become a freeing way for creative people to start to explore without having rules mandated at them.” - Jon Kolko
“Framing is the way in which the problem is structured and presented and the way that those constraints start to manifest as an opportunity statement.” - Jon Kolko
“The rules around trust need to be articulated.” - Jon Kolko
“Chaos is the backdrop for hidden wonderment and success.” - Jon Kolko
Some interesting thoughts on creativity and management. Definitely worth a second listen.
I’ve seen the sentiment of “thought spaces” several times from bloggers, but this is one of the first times I’ve heard a book author use the idea:
Often when I write, it’s to help me make sense of the world around me.
In this episode, Haley interviews Natalia Komarova, Chancellor's Professor of the School of Physical Sciences at the University of California, Irvine. Komarova talks with Haley at the Ninth International Conference on Complex Systems about her presentation, which explored using applied mathematics to study the spread of mutants, as well as the evolution of popular music.
There’s some interesting sounding research being described here. Be sure to circle back around to some of her papers.
The Nobel-winning biologist has drawn global criticism with unfounded pronouncements on genetics, race and intelligence. He still thinks he’s right, a new documentary finds.
According to quantum theory, a measurement may have multiple possible outcomes. Single-world interpretations assert that, nevertheless, only one of them "really" occurs. Here we propose a gedankenexperiment where quantum theory is applied to model an experimenter who herself uses quantum theory. We find that, in such a scenario, no single-world interpretation can be logically consistent. This conclusion extends to deterministic hidden-variable theories, such as Bohmian mechanics, for they impose a single-world interpretation.
Chapter 3: Khirbet Qeiyafa in the Period of King David
Ancient cities of the biblical period did not include public areas comparable to the central forum in Roman cities, the piazza in medieval European cities, or the shopping malls of modern cities. Instead, the gate area was the heart of the city, as everyone who entered or left the city had to pass through it.
Highlight (yellow) – Chapter 3: Khirbet Qeiyafa in the Period of King David > Page 75-76
The city gate was where elders of the town sat and passed judgment on disputes brought before them.
Importance of the city gates
Highlight (yellow) – Chapter 3: Khirbet Qeiyafa in the Period of King David > Page 77
Movement through this inner gate could have been controlled, so that possibly not everyone who was allowed into the piazza could then proceed further into the city.
I’m reminded of theater design in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in which lobbies are meant to physically hold everyone in a public space before they’re let into the actual theater space inside.
Highlight (yellow) – Chapter 3: Khirbet Qeiyafa in the Period of King David > Page 77
Tabun is an Arabic term referring to round overns used for baking, measuring around 0.5-1m (1 1/2-3 1/4 ft) in diameter and generally constructed of earth, though occasionally from a circle of rounded stones.
Highlight (orange) – Chapter 3: Khirbet Qeiyafa in the Period of King David > Page 78
…four large stone steps (a rare find in itself, as built stone steps are seldom uncovered in excavations) descended into the main room.
Highlight (yellow) – Chapter 3: Khirbet Qeiyafa in the Period of King David > Page 79
To the best of our knowledge, drainage channels have not been reported in ordinary dwellings in biblical period cities–only in the city gates–so this came as a surprise.
“To the best of our knowledge” –I like the warning/caution they give here, though most may gloss over it. Small statements like this are small flags in the text that scholars should note for potential future research. Subtle flags like this pop up in math textbooks frequently, but often only the well-trained know to take advantage of them.
Highlight (yellow) – Chapter 3: Khirbet Qeiyafa in the Period of King David > Page 79
This demonstrates how the understanding of archaeological remains can change as an excavation progresses.
Another archaeology 101 example here. Keep in mind that something that may look one way at a point in the research may change fundamentally as one “digs” further.
Highlight (yellow) – Chapter 3: Khirbet Qeiyafa in the Period of King David > Page 80
A bench stood next to the entrance–a feature found only in cultic rooms.
Highlight (yellow) – Chapter 3: Khirbet Qeiyafa in the Period of King David > Page 82
…which we interpreted as a stable.
again another cautionary flag that might possibly take other interpretations.
Highlight (yellow) – Chapter 3: Khirbet Qeiyafa in the Period of King David > Page 82
One room (G) is unusual: it contained a bench…
G doesn’t seem to actually be labeled on diagram C3, but does appear on Fig. 28 of building C10
Highlight (gray) – Chapter 3: Khirbet Qeiyafa in the Period of King David > Page 82
Pillared buildings are well known from the period of the kingdoms of Judah and Israel and were used as public storehouses for the produce collected as tax from farmers. The existence of such a building at Khirbet Qeiyafa clearly indicates central authority and administration.
Highlight (yellow) – Chapter 3: Khirbet Qeiyafa in the Period of King David > Page 85
We know that in ancient times urgent messages were communicated over great distances by sending signals using fire or torches. Evidence of this practice in the Kingdom of Judah comes from an inscription on a pottery sherd from Lachish from the time when Nebuchadnezzar was besieging the city: “we are watching for the fire signals of Lachish according to all the signs which my lord has given. The palace at Khirbet Qeiyafa would ahve been an ideal place for sending and receiving such torch-signals.
Nice documentation in the archaeological record for early long distance communication
Highlight (yellow) – Chapter 3: Khirbet Qeiyafa in the Period of King David > Page 86, 88
…we can three phases of development in cities in Judah in the biblical period (Fig. 33).
Highlight (yellow) – Chapter 3: Khirbet Qeiyafa in the Period of King David > Page 89
Khirbet Qeiyafa was probably the first site constructed according to this plan. [urban planning in Israel involving a casemate wall with houses that incorporate the casemates as rooms. Several examples from the following centuries exist using a similar pattern.]
Highlight (yellow) – Chapter 3: Khirbet Qeiyafa in the Period of King David > Page 91
The excavations at Khirbet Qeiyafa thus reveal another important aspect of the historical figure of David, and show that not only did he build cities, but also that a new concept of urban planning emerged during his reign.
Highlight (yellow) – Chapter 3: Khirbet Qeiyafa in the Period of King David > Page 91
… the city was built in several major phases. In the first phase, the site was cleared of earlier settlement remains and bedrock was exposed around the future city. In the second phase, stones were quarried and brought up to the line of the city wall. […] In the third pahse, the builders began work on the gates and their chambers. […] Construction of the wall itself commenced in the fourth phase. […] In the fifth and final phase, the private houses whose walls incorporated the casemates were constructed.
Highlight (yellow) – Chapter 3: Khirbet Qeiyafa in the Period of King David > Page 92
This was a good demonstration that the chronological dilemma cannot be resolved on the basis of pottery alone.
Highlight (yellow) – Chapter 3: Khirbet Qeiyafa in the Period of King David > Page 93
In the 2008 season we had discovered carbonized olive pits in the city wall and in rooms of the destroyed buildings in Area B.
Highlight (yellow) – Chapter 3: Khirbet Qeiyafa in the Period of King David > Page 93
The enormous tension that accompanied sending the samples via express mail resulted in the credit card with which we paid for the shipment being mistakenly packed inisde and sent to the laboratory at Oxford, along with the olive pits.
This could be a great plot point in a thriller version of this story! One might think that with multiple samples, they might send them separately, that way if some are lost, then at least they’ve not lost everything!
Highlight (yellow) – Chapter 3: Khirbet Qeiyafa in the Period of King David > Page 94
A discovery made in our 2011 excavation season […] A jar containing some 20 olive pits was found in the destroyed city. […] which clearly indicate that the city had been destroyed no later than 980 to 970 BCE. […} Today, the dating […] is based on nearly 30 samples, probably the best radiometric dating we have so far for any level in a biblical city.
Highlight (yellow) – Chapter 3: Khirbet Qeiyafa in the Period of King David > Page 95
…determining the dates of the reigns of the kings of Israel and Judah is not a simple task, and the length of those of David and Solomon, exactly 40 years each, appears to be a literary device rather than reflecting historical reality. We therefore propose that the round number of 1000 BCE as the date of David’s accession to the through, though this is merely an approximation. […] But it is clear from the radiocarbon determinations that Khirbet Qeiyafa can be dated to the time of David or Saul, but no to Solomon’s reign, which is later than the results obtained. It will only be possible to decide conclusively if an inscription naming one king or another is found at Khirbet Qeiyafa. To be scientifically cautious, we accept the later date, to the reign of King David.
Highlight (yellow) – Chapter 3: Khirbet Qeiyafa in the Period of King David > Page 95
The “excavation dump” is the term commonly used by archaeologists in referring to the piles of earth and stones that they remove from the ground during excavation.
Highlight (orange) – Chapter 3: Khirbet Qeiyafa in the Period of King David > Page 97
In 2007 it was possible to claim that nothing was known archaeologically about King David; ten years later the situation is very different, and archaeology can present two sites from his period in the Judean Shephelah.
Highlight (yellow) – Chapter 3: Khirbet Qeiyafa in the Period of King David > Page 101
Guide to highlight colors
Yellow–general highlights and highlights which don’t fit under another category below Orange–Vocabulary word; interesting and/or rare word Green–Reference to read Blue–Interesting Quote Gray–Typography Problem Red–Example to work through
Soon two American biotechnology firms hope to offer couples undertaking in vitro fertilisation the chance to screen embryos before they are implanted. Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis is already widely used to test for chromosomal abnormalities or specific genetic disorders. But MyOme and Genomic Prediction plan to reconstruct the whole sequence of an embryo’s genome using just a few cells from a biopsy and genetic sequences of both parents. They can then, in theory, calculate the risk the embryo will develop a wide range of different diseases in later life—including ailments that are extraordinarily complicated, involving thousands of genetic variants. By selecting between different embryos, those undergoing IVF can optimise the health of their progeny in a way that those who conceive naturally cannot. That raises ethical concerns. Although both firms will screen embryos for disease risk only, there is no reason why traits such as height or intelligence might not be selected in the same way.
The Kardashian Index is a measure of the discrepancy between an academic's social media profile and publication record based on the direct comparison of numbers of citations and Twitter followers.
The Kardashian Index (K-index) can be calculated as follows:
K - index = F(a) / F(c)
F(a) is the actual number of Twitter followers of academic X. F(c) is the number academic X should have given their citations C; given a trend identified in the original paper, it is calculated as:
F = 43.3C0.32
The author of the index says that "a high K-index is a warning to the community that researcher X may have built their public profile on shaky foundations, while a very low K-index suggests that a scientist is being undervalued. ... those people whose K-index is greater than 5 can be considered 'Science Kardashians'.
What is knowledge? How does it disseminate? And what’s its value?
A great article outlining several related papers in Dr. Hidalgo’s opus. I like how he pulls together prior research as well as his own in an accessible way.
In this episode, Haley interviews TK Coleman to discuss how humans allow their conflicting mental models to influence the way they handle controversial topics like racism. TK also shares how understanding context and patterns within human systems ultimately empowers us to actively contribute to human progress.
I generally prefer the harder sciences among Human Current’s episodes, but even episodes on the applications in other areas are really solid. I’m glad to hear about TK Coleman’s overarching philosophy and the idea of “human beings” versus “human doings.”
Also glad to have the recommendation of General Systems Theory: Beginning With Wholes by Barbara G. Hanson as a more accessible text in comparison to Ludwig von Bertalanffy’s text. The gang at Human Current should set up an Amazon Affiliate link so that when I buy books they recommend (which happens frequently), it helps to support and underwrite their work.
Highlights, Quotes, Annotations, & Marginalia
Reality is objective, but meaning is contextual.
—Barbara Hanson, General Systems Theory: Beginning with Wholes quoted within the episode
This quote is an interesting recap of a sentence in the first two paragraphs of Claude Shannon’s The Mathematical Theory of Communication.
In this episode, Haley talks with physicist, complexity scientist, and MIT professor, Cesar Hidalgo. Hidalgo discusses his interest in the physics of networks and complex system science and shares why he believes these fields are so important. He talks about his book, Why Information Grows: The Evolution of Order, from Atoms to Economies, which takes a scientific look at global economic complexity. Hidalgo also shares how economic development is linked to making networks more knowledgeable.
Quotes from this episode:
“Thinking about complexity is important because people have a tendency to jump into micro explanations for macro phenomenon.” — Cesar Hidalgo
“I think complex systems give you not only some practical tools to think about the world, but also some sort of humbleness because you have to understand that your knowledge and understanding of how the systems work is always very limited and that humbleness gives you a different attitude and perspective and gives you some peace.” — Cesar Hidalgo
“The way that we think about entropy in physics and information theory come from different traditions and sometimes that causes a little bit of confusion, but at the end of the day it’s the number of different ways in which you can arrange something.” — Cesar Hidalgo
“To learn more complex activities you need more social reinforcement.” — Cesar Hidalgo
“When we lead groups we have to be clear about the goals and the main goal to keep in mind is that of learning.” — Cesar Hidalgo
“Everybody fails, but not everyone learns from their failures.” — Cesar Hidalgo
“Learning is not just something that is interesting to study, it is actually a goal.” — Cesar Hidalgo
A solid interview here with Cesar Hidalgo. His book has been incredibly influential on my thoughts for the past two years, so I obviously highly recommend it. He’s got a great description of entropy here. I was most surprised by his conversation about loneliness, but I have a gut feeling that’s he’s really caught onto something with his thesis.
I also appreciated about some of how he expanded on learning in the last portion of the interview. Definitely worth revisiting.
What does a JPEG have to do with economics and quantum gravity? All of them are about what happens when you simplify world-descriptions. A JPEG compresses an image by throwing out fine structure in ways a casual glance won't detect. Economists produce theories of human behavior that gloss over the details of individual psychology. Meanwhile, even our most sophisticated physics experiments can't show us the most fundamental building-blocks of matter, and so our theories have to make do with descriptions that blur out the smallest scales. The study of how theories change as we move to more or less detailed descriptions is known as renormalization.
This tutorial provides a modern introduction to renormalization from a complex systems point of view. Simon DeDeo will take students from basic concepts in information theory and image processing to some of the most important concepts in complexity, including emergence, coarse-graining, and effective theories. Only basic comfort with the use of probabilities is required for the majority of the material; some more advanced modules rely on more sophisticated algebra and basic calculus, but can be skipped. Solution sets include Python and Mathematica code to give more advanced learners hands-on experience with both mathematics and applications to data.
We'll introduce, in an elementary fashion, explicit examples of model-building including Markov Chains and Cellular Automata. We'll cover some new ideas for the description of complex systems including the Krohn-Rhodes theorem and State-Space Compression. And we'll show the connections between classic problems in physics, including the Ising model and plasma physics, and cutting-edge questions in machine learning and artificial intelligence.
Haley Campbell-Gross
Michael Levin
César A. Hidalgo
