> What about creativity? Is it really just an
> unpredicatable synergy of memes, or is there some additional 'spark' involved?
>
> While any creative person will tell you that their ideas were influenced by
> everything they've read, they're not likely to tell you they were entirely
> determined by them. It could be a delusional <I'm creative> meme at work,
> and creativity could be just a symptom of a chaotic system, but people seem
> to have this experience whenever they create, regardless of any exposure
> they've had to a 'artistic' meme.
What if things like "creativity" refer not to the workings of the entire
mind, but rather to the condition of consciousness? "You" create
something when something appears in your consciousness that your <You> did
not originate. The 'spark' is the non-conscious mind getting ahead of the
conscious mind and surprising it. This doesn't happen often. The
<consciousness> is used to being in drivers seat (that's its job, after
all). But every once in a while one gets a /bolt from the blue/ and,
well, since <I> didn't have that in my files before <I> (the one that
takes the credit for everything) /must/ have created it. See?
And before this dissolves into another "memes must have come up with that
idea in the first place so you don't have any control, yadda, yadda"
debate, I'd like to say that I don't believe memes are the dominant system
in place in the non-conscious mind. In the conscious mind, yes. But
dominant in the non-conscious? You'll have to convince me of that one
before I'll admit to being a slave to the memesphere.
-Prof. Tim