Dear Friend,
A teen you and I both know dreams of a career in the fine arts. She’s now wondering if Artificial Intelligence may ruin her plans. But I told her, go for it. Yes, we have to feed ourselves. And, no, nobody wants to see an artist starve. Yet I believe there must be a way for this talented artist.
And then you called and asked me to look at your writing. Do you have any potential as a lyricist, you wanted to know. You said you’d email me, but I got on my soap box even before I’d read one line of your poetry. “It doesn’t even really matter if your writing is ‘any good’ right now,” I lectured. “If you have it in your heart to write, you must write. You can always develop the skill as you go along. I don’t really believe in the ‘born with it’ theory anyway. If you have a passion for it, a desire to do it, the skill will follow. We are humans. We need to create.”
Artificial Intelligence is disrupting the world of creativity. The program I’m typing on wants to finish my every word and complete every sentence. It’s a bit disconcerting, considering I began this sentence with one intention and this algorithm wants to change its destination. I don’t even have to think.
Yet I do. Have to think, that is.
As a kid, I remember mindlessly watching sitcom after sitcom, commercial after commercial. The result? I felt like a zombie.
Yet I also remember having no school on a Tuesday and nothing more than office supplies to entertain myself. The result? Paper flip flops. A homemade “copy machine” with rubber bands glued into shapes, ready to “stamp” the next sheet. Games. Puzzles. All made with these fingers.
Humans are creative like their Creator. It’s part of our DNA. It’s part of the way we bear God’s image. We represent him when we create, when we cultivate.
Our ancestors were given a job in the garden: cultivate it. Can you see the artistry in it? The luscious lilacs, the resonant raspberries? Tending to the gift, shaping it.
As the first pair was called to steward a garden, we are called to steward our art. What we produce becomes a joy to the producer and an offering to the Creator.
We are healthiest—mentally and physically—when we cultivate. AI may be set to take the place of human creativity in the marketplace. We may not get paid for our creative endeavors. Nonetheless, we must create. AI may be capable of writing our stories and songs. AI may easily paint our portraits and make our movies.
But for our health, we humans must create anyway.
Friend, I can hear you now, saying, “I’m not crafty.” OK, maybe you won’t be making me a macramé plant holder. Cool. I can live without it.
May I suggest some simple ways to salt-n-pepper a bit of creativity into our days?
Squish some playdough and see what appears
Hum a little homemade tune
Think of something hilarious, and turn it into a joke you can tell a 7 year old
Get into a private room, put on a favorite tune and make a little choreography
Breathe in the curves of a tree and sketch it
Do something you have to do anyway in a novel way, like trimming the hedges into a fun shape or placing the food on the plate in a unique way
Take a nature hike, and snap some photos that capture small details
Fingerpaint with pudding
The main idea is to enjoy yourself. Follow the lead of our Creator. Cultivate for the joy of it.
Take care,
Your friend