4.7 Can Copying Be Creative?

Alpha. All right, how can copying be creative?

Beta. Well, let's see...

Delta. If you see EVERYTHING in a painting, you can copy it.

Alpha. All right, you see everything! How is that creative? Do you arrange old content in a new form here?

Teacher. I think it is possible.

Alpha. How?

Gamma. It is probably like investigation... You have to restore all the details in one right picture for yourself.

Alpha. But this is different with a painting! You already see all the details on it!

Delta. You look on them. It does not mean you see them.

Alpha. What does it mean, on Earth?!

Gamma. Look, Alpha, when it comes to investigation, different people see different things, although they all look at the same crime scene!

Kappa. Yea... They all look at the same scene, but see different things... Yea... What does this give us? They arrange things in different ways in their own minds!!!

Beta. Hey! You've got a BIG point!

Kappa. Wait-wait... What is it? It does not matter what you are looking at? I mean, whatever you are looking at you have to arrange what you see in some form in your mind...

Delta. And if this is new for you, then you are creating! Wow!

Alpha. Someone got lost here.

Delta. Who might it be?

Kappa. Come on, guys.

Teacher. So, copying can be creative?

Delta. Looks like it can be even more creative than the original work.

Alpha. O-o-o-ops.

Gamma. How is that?

Beta. May I?

Delta. Go ahead.

Beta. Say, you arrange things in some new form. This means you invent a new idea, right? Now, say, you try to understand another person's idea, OK? You have to do the same, right? Plus, you have to make sure that the idea you are creating matches that one you are trying to grasp. So, you are kind of doing two arrangements at once...

Kappa. Ha! This is why people do not understand each other!

Gamma. ...So... We have gotten the first answer to the last question...

Teacher. Really?

Gamma. It can be said now, that creativity in arts is of the same nature as creativity in human communication.

Delta. I cannot believe it. It was so fuzzy in the beginning!

Alpha. Aha. I would say it has been.

Delta. Actually, we saw that the same creativity is in invention, as in arts, like with jets. That example that Gamma gave us was very helpful.

Gamma. I see no difference with investigation either, by the way.

Delta. Yea, it is all the same.

Beta. So, creativity is all the same, whenever we come across it: in arts, in technology, in investigation, in pure human communication,.. everywhere! The only things which change, are the subject and the role of the outcome.

Teacher. ...And this is always arranging of known things in a new form?

Kappa. I also cannot believe how clear it is now!

Alpha. OK, you guys have come to the conclusion that copying is even more creative than the original work. Is that not weird?

Kappa. ...Hm... It actually sounds very weird...

Delta. Why don't we think this over?

Gamma. Alpha, what do you think?

Teacher. Gamma, what about you?

Alpha. This new form, you all are talking about... It does not exist when it gets created for the first time, but it does, when it gets grasped by someone else, not the creator...

Delta. It is obvious, but what does "gets grasped" mean? We saw it as a creative action too.

Alpha. As creative as the original creation itself?

Beta. I don't see how we can measure this.

Kappa. My dad says it takes sometimes centuries for humankind to understand some new ideas, inventions or art that some individuals came up with. Understanding is creative!

Delta. And it is the same about understanding between people in everyday life. It was your example, Kappa, right?