Just how creative are humans, really? Some folks would point out that everything humans create has some precursor to it.
For instance, someone invents a plane. But the idea of flight, along with the notion that wings are needed for flight, comes from observing birds. Then too, the notion of a propeller for the plane comes from observing the use of propellers by ships. And so on and so forth. The point being that even something as apparently creative as creating an airplane has precursors to each idea, and hence, we are not really as creative as we might think we are.
But is this view true? Are humans always bound in their creations by the necessity of getting their ideas from somewhere, or can they be so imaginative that they can conjur up ideas which have no precursors?
And if they can be so imaginative that they can conjur up ideas which have no precursors, what then is the value of an education to someone who is creative?
For instance, someone invents a plane. But the idea of flight, along with the notion that wings are needed for flight, comes from observing birds. Then too, the notion of a propeller for the plane comes from observing the use of propellers by ships. And so on and so forth. The point being that even something as apparently creative as creating an airplane has precursors to each idea, and hence, we are not really as creative as we might think we are.
But is this view true? Are humans always bound in their creations by the necessity of getting their ideas from somewhere, or can they be so imaginative that they can conjur up ideas which have no precursors?
And if they can be so imaginative that they can conjur up ideas which have no precursors, what then is the value of an education to someone who is creative?