The Creative Brain (2019)

What is creativity? Where does it come from? How do we harness it, and tap into the neural processes behind it? Imagination and creativity, says David Eagleman, "are not the preserve of an elite few, but what all human brains do," as distinct from other animals. Eagleman is a neuroscientist, a New York Times bestselling author, professor at Stanford, a Guggenheim Fellow, and the writer-host of the PBS series "The Brain." Humanity has radically altered our world with creativity. Creativity is not found just in the arts. Science thrives on creativity, for example.  Eagleman interviews all sorts of creative types, like the architect Bjarke Ingels, the former Chief Technology Officer at Microsoft Nathan Myhrvold, animator Phil Tippett, jazz musician Robert Glasper, and others. One of the most interesting segments in the film was the redemptive role that creativity can play among prisoners who take writing and pottery classes, where they find a new self identity. Imagination is the "super power that we all possess." How to be creative? Dig deeper, learn a new skill, and resist the path of least resistance that our brains prefer. Second, push boundaries between the familiar and the new. And third, risk failure instead of avoiding it.  I watched this one-hour science documentary on Netflix.

Dan Clendenin: dan@journeywithjesus.net