The writer and cognitive psychologist Scott Barry Kaufman is always fun to travel with–especially when it’s a journey through the brain. We’ve all been there so things look familiar, which is part of the charm. Lots of little moments of recognition. But with Kaufman driving we see things we miss when we’re mucking around in our brains alone. We’ve profiled Kaufman before–and we always appreciate how he emphasizes nuance. Science generally doesn’t like a mess; it wants to tidy things up, find the rules. Kaufman is very hesitant to sign on for that, it seems. Probably because his subject, the brain, plays a mean game of gotcha when you try to pin it down.
So things are messy–Kaufman delivers the concert, not the studio album. “But hold up…How can creativity be associated with all those things?” goes a typical Kaufman interjection, “Isn’t that contradictory?” You bet. In his terrific, swift explanation (sort of) of the creative process for Scientific American, Kaufman says the creative endeavor is a conflict as likely to follow the six steps below as it is to be an orderly procession. (Or maybe this is an orderly procession?)
- This is awesome
- This is tricky
- This is shit
- I am shit
- This might be ok
- This is awesome
