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On creativity in unexpected places
Mar. 2nd, 2003 04:43 pmAd Mundo Exteriore,
From "A Crazy Tale":
"Again, a little while after, as in one of the changes in a dream, I found myself looking at something standing in the fields. Something which looked at first like a man, and then like two men joined, till, after dizzy turning and tramping round it like the searching of a maze, I found it was some great abortion of nature with two legs at each end, calmly cropping grass under the staring sun. I have said that I ask no one to believe this story."
The entry that is about to follow is actually from yesterday. But I couldn't go online, so you get to enjoy its incoherence now:
I have come to the conclusion that I am musically indifferent. I enjoy singing and whistling, and when it comes to instrumental pieces, I have very definite preferences, but in terms of sheer pop or rock or jazz or what-have-you, I can make myself like any song as long as I have pleasant associations with it. For example, I can listen over and over to Hikaru no Go songs because, well, I'm currently obsessed with the manga. However, for some reason, I don't feel any of the same affection for the Slayers songs that Tryo-chan lent me, even though they're similar in genre. Simply because I have no idea what Slayers is about. Also, come to think of it, I don't have the lyrics either, so I can't sing along. ^_^
I suppose I'm not completely indifferent to the actual quality or style of music itself, since I absolutely loved Hikari Naki Yoru wo Yuke before I even knew what Ayasturi Sakon was about. Heck, before I even saw a picture of Sakon, who is as pretty as bishounen come. Did I mention by the way that I really like that little speech he makes every episode about ventriloquism being a form of mind-reading? In any case, I still think my musical sense is rather simple, especially when it comes to recent music.
Today, while coming home from Mid-Manhattan again, I visited Asahiya and spent yet even more money on manga. Oh dear. I went and bought the Gorgeous Characters Guide, though I can't read a word of it. It's very cute though—it has this little foldout "Go Weekly", though it's only a page. I silently thank whoever ordered it. ^_^
I also bought volume 15. ::sobs:: Sai! Fish flags! No! ::everyone except Tryo-chan, who is also sobbing, stares at her strangely:: What?!
The anime actually follows the manga very closely, even down to the clothes that Hikaru is wearing. Nevertheless, the artwork of the manga is clearly superior. In this case, I can almost understand why oniichan never likes both the anime and manga for a series. I think it also depends on which one you encounter first.
Volume 15 of Kareshi Kanojyo no Jijou is out. Wow. I have no idea what happens after volume 12. Maybe I should go look for translations again.
I was reconsidering Lyd-chan's opinion that criticism is not a creative activity, and it occurred to me that while it may be true for those who practice literary criticism for a living without writing themselves, it isn't true of criticism in general. T.S. Eliot for example in his critical essays on poetry sets out a new philosophy, theory of art and its function in the world. And I think that the creation of ideas through analysis is indeed a creative activity, though perhaps not artistic. I would call it the work of an "artisan" rather than an "artist". There is the same emphasis on the creative aspect, but the craftsman, or even the architect, is more concerned with the polished quality of the final product than its inspiration or originality. Hm...no, that's not quite true either. I think it's the difference between striving for mastery rather than virtuosity, like trying to perfect the performance of each work one at a time rather than trying to play like Paganini.
The music metaphor also applies to creativity in the mathematics and sciences. And indeed, creativity is where most mathematicians and scientists fail. I think that the solution of equations or the analysis of an experiment is indeed a sort of art, but not like painting or sculpture. It's more a matter of performance, and the way that the musical performer tries to create an interpretation of the piece he is playing is similar, I think, to the way that the mathematician tries to create an elegant and beautiful answer to a problem. What many who are not mathematically-inclined fail to realize is that there is a strong aesthetic sense in math, and this intuitive understanding of what is beautiful mathematically is essential to enjoying the subject.
One may object that while a musical performance doesn't have a correct interpretation, a math problem always has a correct solution. I will admit that the so-called "left-brain" subjects are more narrow in their scope for creativity, but these limitations make the creative experience more exhilarating and difficult. Madeleine L'Engle, in A Wrinkle in Time, mentioned how the strict form of the Shakespearean sonnet still allowed for an infinite variety of expression. Also, imagine a class of would-be artists ordered to depict David holding a sling before his duel with Goliath. Some people will depict the Biblical scene in a neoclassical oil painting, others will go for cubism in tempura. One will choose to perhaps engrave it into a miniature locket, another to render it holographically with lasers. There will, of course, be the Michaelangelo standing in marble, larger than life, and many people in the class may strive to make a perfect copy, but that doesn't change the fact that the paintings, the locket, the hologram, and even temple doors or triumphal arches won't result from the same assignment. Everyone creates David, but everyone creates something different. Sometimes it's subtly different, and that's why the way a proof or a solution is written is part of the artistry—something students in my AP Physics class don't necessarily understand. One recognizes beauty in a elegantly written proof that is missing in a sloppy one, even if they are based on the same foundations.
And well, mathematics is far more flexible than it seems at the high school level. In my Geometric Structures class, we've proved the same theorem in an endless diversity of approaches, from classical Euclidean to complex Cartesian or vector algebra or projective geometry.
So yes. Your physics or calculus homework can be an artistic opus, if you take the right approach to it. I'm sure you don't appreciate that insinuation at all. ^_~ Aren't I evil? (And yes, I'm a hypocrite. When trying to prove that an nxn matrix with n distinct and nonzero eigenvalues has exactly 2^n square roots, I do not think about mathematical beauty. I just try to get the darned thing finished before 2:00 AM.)
...Tari
Post-script: You know that moment when Hikaru wins his game with that top amateur in Hiroshima, and he looks around for Sai with such a happy expression on his face? And then he only sees this frightened old man and remembers that Sai is gone? That was so sad. ;_;
From "A Crazy Tale":
"Again, a little while after, as in one of the changes in a dream, I found myself looking at something standing in the fields. Something which looked at first like a man, and then like two men joined, till, after dizzy turning and tramping round it like the searching of a maze, I found it was some great abortion of nature with two legs at each end, calmly cropping grass under the staring sun. I have said that I ask no one to believe this story."
The entry that is about to follow is actually from yesterday. But I couldn't go online, so you get to enjoy its incoherence now:
I have come to the conclusion that I am musically indifferent. I enjoy singing and whistling, and when it comes to instrumental pieces, I have very definite preferences, but in terms of sheer pop or rock or jazz or what-have-you, I can make myself like any song as long as I have pleasant associations with it. For example, I can listen over and over to Hikaru no Go songs because, well, I'm currently obsessed with the manga. However, for some reason, I don't feel any of the same affection for the Slayers songs that Tryo-chan lent me, even though they're similar in genre. Simply because I have no idea what Slayers is about. Also, come to think of it, I don't have the lyrics either, so I can't sing along. ^_^
I suppose I'm not completely indifferent to the actual quality or style of music itself, since I absolutely loved Hikari Naki Yoru wo Yuke before I even knew what Ayasturi Sakon was about. Heck, before I even saw a picture of Sakon, who is as pretty as bishounen come. Did I mention by the way that I really like that little speech he makes every episode about ventriloquism being a form of mind-reading? In any case, I still think my musical sense is rather simple, especially when it comes to recent music.
Today, while coming home from Mid-Manhattan again, I visited Asahiya and spent yet even more money on manga. Oh dear. I went and bought the Gorgeous Characters Guide, though I can't read a word of it. It's very cute though—it has this little foldout "Go Weekly", though it's only a page. I silently thank whoever ordered it. ^_^
I also bought volume 15. ::sobs:: Sai! Fish flags! No! ::everyone except Tryo-chan, who is also sobbing, stares at her strangely:: What?!
The anime actually follows the manga very closely, even down to the clothes that Hikaru is wearing. Nevertheless, the artwork of the manga is clearly superior. In this case, I can almost understand why oniichan never likes both the anime and manga for a series. I think it also depends on which one you encounter first.
Volume 15 of Kareshi Kanojyo no Jijou is out. Wow. I have no idea what happens after volume 12. Maybe I should go look for translations again.
I was reconsidering Lyd-chan's opinion that criticism is not a creative activity, and it occurred to me that while it may be true for those who practice literary criticism for a living without writing themselves, it isn't true of criticism in general. T.S. Eliot for example in his critical essays on poetry sets out a new philosophy, theory of art and its function in the world. And I think that the creation of ideas through analysis is indeed a creative activity, though perhaps not artistic. I would call it the work of an "artisan" rather than an "artist". There is the same emphasis on the creative aspect, but the craftsman, or even the architect, is more concerned with the polished quality of the final product than its inspiration or originality. Hm...no, that's not quite true either. I think it's the difference between striving for mastery rather than virtuosity, like trying to perfect the performance of each work one at a time rather than trying to play like Paganini.
The music metaphor also applies to creativity in the mathematics and sciences. And indeed, creativity is where most mathematicians and scientists fail. I think that the solution of equations or the analysis of an experiment is indeed a sort of art, but not like painting or sculpture. It's more a matter of performance, and the way that the musical performer tries to create an interpretation of the piece he is playing is similar, I think, to the way that the mathematician tries to create an elegant and beautiful answer to a problem. What many who are not mathematically-inclined fail to realize is that there is a strong aesthetic sense in math, and this intuitive understanding of what is beautiful mathematically is essential to enjoying the subject.
One may object that while a musical performance doesn't have a correct interpretation, a math problem always has a correct solution. I will admit that the so-called "left-brain" subjects are more narrow in their scope for creativity, but these limitations make the creative experience more exhilarating and difficult. Madeleine L'Engle, in A Wrinkle in Time, mentioned how the strict form of the Shakespearean sonnet still allowed for an infinite variety of expression. Also, imagine a class of would-be artists ordered to depict David holding a sling before his duel with Goliath. Some people will depict the Biblical scene in a neoclassical oil painting, others will go for cubism in tempura. One will choose to perhaps engrave it into a miniature locket, another to render it holographically with lasers. There will, of course, be the Michaelangelo standing in marble, larger than life, and many people in the class may strive to make a perfect copy, but that doesn't change the fact that the paintings, the locket, the hologram, and even temple doors or triumphal arches won't result from the same assignment. Everyone creates David, but everyone creates something different. Sometimes it's subtly different, and that's why the way a proof or a solution is written is part of the artistry—something students in my AP Physics class don't necessarily understand. One recognizes beauty in a elegantly written proof that is missing in a sloppy one, even if they are based on the same foundations.
And well, mathematics is far more flexible than it seems at the high school level. In my Geometric Structures class, we've proved the same theorem in an endless diversity of approaches, from classical Euclidean to complex Cartesian or vector algebra or projective geometry.
So yes. Your physics or calculus homework can be an artistic opus, if you take the right approach to it. I'm sure you don't appreciate that insinuation at all. ^_~ Aren't I evil? (And yes, I'm a hypocrite. When trying to prove that an nxn matrix with n distinct and nonzero eigenvalues has exactly 2^n square roots, I do not think about mathematical beauty. I just try to get the darned thing finished before 2:00 AM.)
...Tari
Post-script: You know that moment when Hikaru wins his game with that top amateur in Hiroshima, and he looks around for Sai with such a happy expression on his face? And then he only sees this frightened old man and remembers that Sai is gone? That was so sad. ;_;
