4 ms·

I think the other situation is more common: smart people with swirling unique thoughts keep them hidden because they don't consider themselves creative.

nine_k 13y ago
I'm yet to meet such a person. Probably it's just uncommon in the IT crowd, which is highly open to ideas and meritocratic.
- gambogi 13y ago
  How do you know that you've never met a person who didn't share their ideas with you?
  - nine_k 13y ago
    I haven't met a person who would be visibly shy to share his ideas with others when I already knew about these. This is of course a skewed sample.
bennyg 13y ago
I agree completely. When I was in Art school I was working on a project that instead of using charcoal to create the darks on a white sheet of paper, the assignment was to use a white conte crayon to denote the light areas on a black sheet of paper. I had taken my assignment home and was working on it in my living room when a neighbor and friend of mine knocked on my door and he came in and looked at what I was doing. He was a Mech. E student, and a damn smart person. He told me to my face that he could never do what I was doing because he wasn't creative. "Creative" doesn't just apply to visual arts - it's a thinking style. And every human, ever, is creative - just in different avenues. And those avenues are all obtainable by all people.
- nether 13y ago
  Today "creative" usually refers to originality, not the act of creation. It's no worse than using "engineer" to mean computer programmer rather than someone who works on something with an engine.
  - gambogi 13y ago
    Well, if we're getting our etymology on, 'engine' originally referred to any trick, device, or machine. An engineer was someone who created engines. It only took on the association with steam locomotives in the 1800s. I would also like point out that early computers were also known as analytic engines.
metaphorm 13y ago
there are lots of smart people with good ideas. there are very few smart people with good ideas who have MADE SOMETHING based on one of those ideas.
- beat 13y ago
  Actually making things - finished things - is the hard part. For one, almost anything worth creating involves substantial schlep, and people lack the patience for the schlep. For another, creative people continually have new ideas, and it's very easy to drop that boring schlep in favor of the shiny new idea. I know a ton of wonderfully creative minds, full of great ideas, that have never accomplished anything. They never finish, either due to frustration with the schlep, or by starting something new before they ever finish what they were working on. Those people are NOT good creative partners, generally. They'll flake out when the going gets tough - and if what you're doing is interesting enough to be worthwhile, it WILL get tough at some point.

nine_k 13y ago

I'm yet to meet such a person. Probably it's just uncommon in the IT crowd, which is highly open to ideas and meritocratic.

gambogi 13y ago
How do you know that you've never met a person who didn't share their ideas with you?
- nine_k 13y ago
  I haven't met a person who would be visibly shy to share his ideas with others when I already knew about these. This is of course a skewed sample.

bennyg 13y ago

I agree completely. When I was in Art school I was working on a project that instead of using charcoal to create the darks on a white sheet of paper, the assignment was to use a white conte crayon to denote the light areas on a black sheet of paper. I had taken my assignment home and was working on it in my living room when a neighbor and friend of mine knocked on my door and he came in and looked at what I was doing. He was a Mech. E student, and a damn smart person. He told me to my face that he could never do what I was doing because he wasn't creative. "Creative" doesn't just apply to visual arts - it's a thinking style. And every human, ever, is creative - just in different avenues. And those avenues are all obtainable by all people.

nether 13y ago
Today "creative" usually refers to originality, not the act of creation. It's no worse than using "engineer" to mean computer programmer rather than someone who works on something with an engine.
- gambogi 13y ago
  Well, if we're getting our etymology on, 'engine' originally referred to any trick, device, or machine. An engineer was someone who created engines. It only took on the association with steam locomotives in the 1800s. I would also like point out that early computers were also known as analytic engines.

metaphorm 13y ago

there are lots of smart people with good ideas. there are very few smart people with good ideas who have MADE SOMETHING based on one of those ideas.

beat 13y ago
Actually making things - finished things - is the hard part. For one, almost anything worth creating involves substantial schlep, and people lack the patience for the schlep. For another, creative people continually have new ideas, and it's very easy to drop that boring schlep in favor of the shiny new idea. I know a ton of wonderfully creative minds, full of great ideas, that have never accomplished anything. They never finish, either due to frustration with the schlep, or by starting something new before they ever finish what they were working on. Those people are NOT good creative partners, generally. They'll flake out when the going gets tough - and if what you're doing is interesting enough to be worthwhile, it WILL get tough at some point.