Lessons Learned from talking about the Nature of Creativity in the Brain

Sunil Iyengar (NEA Director of Research and Analysis) and I had the privilege of attending a Nature of Creativity in the Brain working group at the Santa Fe Institute earlier this month. We co-organized the event with Jennifer Dunn, the Institute’s faculty chair. The purpose of the meeting was to “evaluate the legacy of creativity research and to look for ways to mine new knowledge at the intersections of cognitive psychology, neurobiology, neurotechnology, learning, and the arts.”

The Santa Fe Institute is a private, not-for-profit, independent research and education center dedicated to bringing together leading scientists from across a broad range of disciplines to collaboratively grapple with compelling and complex issues. This event afforded us and them an opportunity to expand their established trans-disciplinary approach to include artists and artistic inquiry in that effort.

The idea of assembling this group to grapple with this theme in this venue seemed like incredibly fun and important work. But as my favorite author Mark Twain once said, “In order to get the full value of a joy, you have to have someone to divide it with.” So without further ado, here are five of the most compelling lessons I learned in Santa Fe.