Role of Simplicity in Creative Behaviour: The Case of the Poietic Generator

TL;DR

This paper applies Simplicity Theory to model interest in creative activities, demonstrating that some creative actions are motivated by seeking unexpected simplicity, using a simplified creative game as proof of concept.

Contribution

It introduces a novel application of Simplicity Theory to model creativity and proposes a decision rule that captures elementary creative behavior.

Findings

Creative actions can be motivated by the search for unexpected simplicity.

A decision rule based on Simplicity Theory can produce elementary creative behavior.

The approach offers a new perspective on understanding motivation in creative processes.

Abstract

We propose to apply Simplicity Theory (ST) to model interest in creative situations. ST has been designed to describe and predict interest in communication. Here we use ST to derive a decision rule that we apply to a simplified version of a creative game, the Poietic Generator. The decision rule produces what can be regarded as an elementary form of creativity. This study is meant as a proof of principle. It suggests that some creative actions may be motivated by the search for unexpected simplicity.