Eureka! The art of creative thinking in a digital world

When illustrating the history of creative thinking, the metaphor of a roller coaster seems fitting. It takes us through a world of fun, is in perpetual movement, and is dotted with calm interludes before throwing us up in the air, but with no real danger.

This story doesn’t have the best of starts. According to Plato, creativity is impossible, pointless even. The perfection of “ideas” is given a priori and all ideas exist in a world of their own. There is, therefore, no point in trying to imagine anything, as new ideas don’t exist and only an effort of memory can provide better ideas. According to him, a “eureka” moment isn’t possible, only “I remember” moments are. Unlike the cave in Lascaux, and despite being much more recent, Plato’s cave therefore doesn’t contain paintings.

Aristotle predictably took the opposite standpoint to that of his master. He claimed that imagination produced images, thus highlighting the essential function of “phantasia”.

Archimedes decided…