⚡Virtual reality... in your car???🚗
PLUS: Music streaming revenue growth on the slowdown by end of 2020s | UK Chancellor says offices should be default for creativity's sake
Clayton Hester
May 18, 2023
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The Precap
Montana bans TikTok
Music streaming revenue growth on the slowdown by end of 2020s
The “unusual and engrossing” “Uncommon Denominator”
Virtual reality for your car
Gender inequality causes productivity gap in agriculture
Is creativity harnessed most fully face-to-face? UK Chancellor says offices should be default
Introducing Incubrain
Researchers have created a "digital twin" of the Titanic shipwreck
musician King Tuff talks inspiration
Conan sings his song
The true power of Canva
Trends & Changes
Montana bans TikTok
📛 Montana has become the first state in the US to completely ban the social media app TikTok, citing concerns over the app's potential threat to national security and the possibility that it could be used by the Chinese government to spy on US citizens. The measure, signed into law by Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte, will take effect on Jan. 1, 2024, and is expected to be challenged in court. Critics argue that the ban infringes on people's First Amendment rights and is unconstitutional. TikTok spokesperson Brooke Oberwetter said the law is unlawful and that the company will work to defend the rights of its users.
Music streaming revenue growth on the slowdown by end of 2020s
💿 Music streaming revenue growth is expected to slow down in the next decade, according to MIDiA Research. The report suggests that background consumption of entertainment is on the rise, and non-DSP streaming, such as Peloton and TikTok, is starting to impact the cultural capital of traditional streaming services. Young people are more likely than ever to create social content with their music, and personalized algorithms are fragmenting listenership, making it harder for superstars to earn a living from just streaming alone. Future platforms may create three-sided marketplaces that operate as self-contained virtuous circles.
The “unusual and engrossing” “Uncommon Denominator”
🖼️ Uncommon Denominator: Nina Katchadourian at the Morgan is a captivating show at the Morgan Library & Museum. Artist Nina Katchadourian collaborated with Morgan curator Joel Smith, selecting artworks and artifacts from the museum's collection and interspersing them with Katchadourian's own works and treasured family items. The exhibit showcases themes such as travel, maps, books, and human relationships with nature, highlighting visual and ideational connections between disparate objects. The exhibition traverses various eras, categories, mediums, and genres, and is arranged thematically in clusters.
Virtual reality for your car
🚗 Meta and BMW are teaming up to create augmented and virtual reality experiences for cars. They have blended inertial motion sensor data from a BMW with Meta's Project Aria research glasses to demo VR and mixed reality use in moving cars. The companies say that access to the car's precise 6DOF positioning system could allow them to render world-locked virtual content outside of the vehicle. However, some experts are skeptical about whether people will be interested in using VR or AR while sitting still or moving at high speeds.
Gender inequality causes productivity gap in agriculture
👩🌾👨🌾 Gender inequality is responsible for a 24% productivity gap between male and female farmers of the same size, according to a new report from the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization. The report highlights the importance of improving equity for women and offers five recommendations to close the gap, such as reducing asset and resource disparities, addressing care and unpaid domestic work burdens, and engaging with discriminatory customs and behavior. These actions have the potential to increase global GDP by 1% and improve food security for millions of women.
Is creativity harnessed most fully face-to-face? UK Chancellor says offices should be default
💼 UK Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has stated that working from the office should be the default for employees, claiming that remote working could stifle creativity. This comes after tech billionaire Elon Musk called working from home "morally wrong" and bosses at US firms, such as Amazon and Salesforce, have demanded employees return to offices. However, research has shown that workplace flexibility is now a top reason why employees accept new jobs and a recent survey found that nearly three-quarters of London workers would leave their job if they were no longer able to work from home for some of the week.
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Incubrain
What if there was a place where you always had a brainstorming partner?
What if there was a place where you could think out loud in public, inspiring others?
What if there was a place you could go to visualize your ideas in real-time?
Well, with a combination of ChatGPT and MidJourney plug-ins, that’s the project within Spark Space.
I call this space “Incubrain.”
Initially, my intention with Incubrain was to find an AI specialist who could assist me in creating an app based on ChatGPT that would specifically help in the creative process.
And yes, that’s what I want to do still.
Incubrain-as-AI would be a perfect combination of research assistant and creativity consultant.
To do this, we’d need to get into the weeds of different creativity models.
There are three models I’d identify which we could synthesize:
Osborn-Parnes Creative Problem-Solving
Clarify the Problem: The first step is to identify the problem or challenge you want to solve. This involves defining the problem in clear and specific terms.
Generate Ideas: Once you have a clear understanding of the problem, the next step is to generate as many ideas as possible. This can be done using techniques such as brainstorming, mind mapping, or free association.
Develop Ideas: After you have generated a large number of ideas, the next step is to develop and refine them. This involves evaluating the ideas based on their feasibility, usefulness, and originality.
Evaluate and Select Ideas: In this step, you will evaluate the developed ideas and select the best ones for further development. You will need to consider factors such as the resources required, the potential impact of the idea, and the feasibility of implementation.
Implement the Solution: Once you have selected the best idea, the next step is to implement it. This may involve developing a plan, allocating resources, and putting the plan into action.
Evaluate the Results: The final step is to evaluate the results of the implemented solution. This involves measuring the impact of the solution and determining whether it was successful in addressing the original problem. If necessary, you may need to repeat the process to generate new solutions or improvements to the existing one.
Henri Poincare’s model
Preparation: In this stage, the individual focuses on the problem at hand and gathers information relevant to the problem. This may involve researching, experimenting, or studying related fields.
Incubation: After the preparation stage, the individual sets the problem aside and allows the subconscious mind to process the information. This stage involves a period of reflection and incubation, during which the individual may engage in unrelated activities or take a break from thinking about the problem.
Illumination: The illumination stage is characterized by a sudden insight or realization of the solution to the problem. This may occur spontaneously or as a result of a trigger, such as a conversation or observation.
Verification: In the final stage, the individual tests the solution and evaluates its effectiveness. This may involve refining the solution or returning to the previous stages of the creative process if the solution is not satisfactory.
Divergent-Convergent model
Clarify the Problem: The first step is to identify and clarify the problem or challenge that needs to be addressed. This involves defining the problem in clear and specific terms and identifying the goals and desired outcomes.
Divergent Thinking: Once the problem is identified, the next step is to generate many possible solutions or ideas through divergent thinking. This can be done through brainstorming, mind mapping, or other creative exercises that encourage free-flowing, unstructured thinking.
Convergent Thinking: After generating a large number of ideas, the next step is to select and refine the best solution through convergent thinking. This involves evaluating the feasibility, practicality, and effectiveness of the various options and selecting the best one.
Implementation: Once the best solution is selected, the next step is to implement it. This may involve developing a plan, allocating resources, and putting the plan into action.
Synthesizing these would look like:
Identify/clarify the problem
Prepare/research
Generate a plethora of ideas (practice divergent thinking)
Incubate the ideas and let them sit
Arrive either at illumination or settle on and isolate solution from among ideas (practice convergent thinking)
Implement, verify, and evaluate the results
With this the AI model could correspond to help identify and nuance the problem.
It could also help with research and help churn out ideas.
From there, if one resonates — great! Run with it!
It can also help evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of a given idea in real time.
Reasonably doable with current ChatGPT settings, but I do look forward to seeing if it can be enhanced to be a better creativity consultant.
All while we aim to turn Spark Space into a churning, teeming, bubbling creativity laboratory.
From cross-collaboration to real-time brainstorming to data and newsfeeds — I want to turn Spark Space into a hub for creatives.
And join in on my conversation on trying to invent “baroque jazz” (the image above is a visual representation of that idea).
Picture it: a dialectical dance between highly structured, stringently ordered pieces and free-flowing, spontaneous jams.
Either way — join us and start sharing your big ideas!
—Clayton
Breakthroughs Today
🚢 Researchers have created a "digital twin" of the Titanic shipwreck, using a high-resolution 3-D model with unprecedented detail. The project, undertaken by Magellan Ltd., took six weeks to capture more than 16 terabytes of data and 715,000 still images using two submersibles, mapping "every millimeter" of the wreckage as well as the entire three-mile debris field. The new images offer new details about the shipwreck that hadn't been previously known and show personal artifacts, such as watches, top hats and unopened champagne bottles, strewn across the debris field. The researchers hope the images will provide clues about what happened to the ocean liner when it sank on its maiden voyage in 1912.
Food For Thought
In a recent interview, musician King Tuff talks about the inspiration behind his iconic hand gesture seen on his Instagram posts, as well as the impact of the pandemic on his latest album "Smalltown Stardust." The musician discusses how he writes different kinds of songs depending on where he is and how the pandemic led him to reminisce about the natural landscapes of Vermont. Although the pandemic has been difficult for many, he sees it as a healing experience as it allowed him to take a break from touring.
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Discoveries Daily
🎥 Comedian Conan O'Brien is set to star in a new travel series on Max called "Conan O’Brien Must Go". The show will consist of four episodes and in a sneak peek, O’Brien is shown traveling through Bergen, Norway to record and perform a synth-pop song with Norwegian rap-comedy band Eda. In a recent podcast, O'Brien had expressed his desire for a hit song in Norway. The show is currently in production and the teaser trailer can be viewed online.
New Tools
💻 Do you know the full capabilities of Canva? Canva is a versatile and easy-to-use design tool that has revolutionized how we create stunning visual content. It offers an extensive range of design templates and features, catering to various creative projects, and its user-friendly interface makes it accessible to users of all skill levels. Canva also provides branding tools and impressive AI functionalities that enhance photos like a professional application. Despite some misconceptions, Canva offers a high degree of design customization, various professional design elements, and an impressive free version, making it a powerful tool for businesses and individuals alike.
