When creativity is no longer creative

The inclination to adapt without question is scripted into the Two which governs this millennium…

I remember when from a distance I could tell the make of a car quite easily. Today, oftentimes, I cannot. They look too similar. Once or twice I’ve walked up to my car in a shopping centre car park only to discover that not only it wasn’t my car but it wasn’t even the same make! Is it that I’m getting older? I have asked myself that question. But no, that’s not it, even if I am guilty of being preoccupied at times.

Technology and computer programs are now used to create much of what humans used to create with pencil on paper. Many or most of what is offered in these computer programs are templates, which the designer then adapts to fit the specifications he/she requires. Hence, the similarities, the sameness, with often not so easily distinguishable differences at first glance. 

Of course, we cannot deny the benefits provided by technology. Consider 3D printing for example. It’s spectacularly amazing! And, we must give credit to the brilliant humans who created this technology. Do we also however, need to ask ourselves if technology has stunted our impulse and dulled our inspiration and enthusiasm to create something from scratch, without the necessity of our laptops. Or, is it perhaps, that we have become too reliant on all that technology offers, giving it first preference instead of using it merely as a support mechanism?  

From a numeric standpoint, we are moving into a millennium of sameness, of levelling, of adapting. Some forced upon us overtly, some covertly, some from personal choice. But sameness just the same. A sameness which is not to be mistaken for equality. Some advancing us, some not. We must distinguish which does which.

The artisans so plentiful in yesteryears, appear to be dwindling. Without a doubt we are moving into unprecedented ways of living. Revolutionary changes in fact, that can be scary, exciting and thrilling, all at the same time! But we cannot enter this period haphazardly. We must be awake to these changes, to see them for what they are and how they affect us, rather than what they appear to be.

The inclination to adapt without question is scripted into the Two which governs this millennium. But to adapt without understanding what we are adapting to, is risky. Most importantly, if we wish to hold on to and maintain our individuality, independence, critical thinking and the differences that make us uniquely who we were born to be, then we need to switch from auto pilot to manual. If we don’t do this we risk becoming robotic. We risk moving into the very assembly line that technology is fast phasing out for machinery and engineering. Perhaps we need to ask ourselves if as humans, we are at risk of adapting to a new assembly line – one of human automatons.