Creativity is usually regarded as a mystical talent which some people have and others do not. This is rubbish at least as far as 'idea creativity' goes. Artistic creativity may be something else - aesthetic judgement etc.

There is no mystery about creativity. Creativity is the behaviour of information in self-organising systems that make symmetric patterns. All patterning systems are asymmetric. All self-organising systems make patterns.

From an understanding of the nature of these asymmetric systems we can design the formal tools of creativity. These include: challenge, concept extraction, provocation, random entry etc. These are the formal tools of lateral thinking.

All these tools can be learned and practiced until a skill in their use is acquired. Everyone can acquire the skill but, as with any skill, some people might be better at the skill than others. Everyone can learn to play a reasonable game of tennis. Some will reach Wimbledon and a few will win.

A group of workshops organized by Carol Ferguson for ISCOR in South Africa, used just one of the lateral thinking tools (random entry). That afternoon they generated 21,000 ideas. It took them nine months just to sort through the ideas generated in one afternoon. This goes far beyond brainstorming or feeling 'uninhibited'.

Some of the processes of lateral thinking are directly contrary to traditional thinking. With traditional thinking you need to be 'right' at every step. With provocation you can take a step that you know not to be right.

"Po cars should have square wheels".

The word 'po' is an invented word that is needed to signal that a provocation is being used (Provocative Operation).

We then use a new mental operation of 'movement'. This is totally different from judgement. There are formal ways of using movement.

From the provocation we arrive at the idea of 'anticipatory suspension' where the suspension is active and operates ahead of need - to give a very smooth ride.

Although provocation may sound strange to traditional philosophers, it is based directly on an understanding of the braind as a self-organising system. Mathematicians understand the need of provocation in such systems. Without provocation you get trapped in a 'local equilibrium' and never reach a global equilibrium.

Judgment And Design
The Classification Approach
The GG3
The Analysis Approach
The Design Approach
Perception
Teaching Creativity
Argument
Summary