Creativity & The Sweet Spot Of Art & Science-Nancy Hillis MD and Bruce Sawhill PhD
Creativity & The Sweet Spot In Art & Science
The following blog post is constructed from conversations between myself and my partner, Dr. Bruce Sawhill, Stanford educated theoretical physicist and mathematician.
Once upon a time, we wrote a blog post about The Goldilocks Zone and how biological life and creativity both thrive in a sweet spot.
Later, we wrote about the continuum between TV snow on one hand and the ticking of a metronome on the other exemplifying the spectrum between order and chaos and making the case that artistic creativity has elements of both.
You can see we’re trying to get at a middle ground here.
Moderation is best in all things
Hesiod
The Greek poet Hesiod said these words around 700 BC, and Oscar Wilde added to that with his words:
Everything in moderation, including moderation.
Oscar Wilde
There are lessons to be learned from both Hesiod and Wilde.
In a previous life, Bruce studied the dynamics of landscapes influenced by forest fires and the patterns that emerged over time.
Since the time scales involved can be very long- many hundreds or even thousands of years- and Bruce is not sufficiently patient or long-lived to sit in the forest and wait for results, he and a team at the Santa Fe Institute built computer models to simulate:
- how forests grow and
- how they burn and
- what grows back when a forest is struck by lightning, not just once but again and again.
Computer simulation of forest ecology
The computer model was informed by characteristics measured in real forests, so it was an attempt to “fast-forward” the generation of patterns.
What emerged were mosaics, patterns of different species and ages of trees.
Some mosaics were simple and uniform, others varied and complex.
The Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis
The reason they started forest fires inside of a computer was to develop understanding around a long-standing and controversial hypothesis in ecology known as the Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis or IDH.
This is an idea that has ricocheted around the halls of ecology since the 1940s but is most associated with Joseph Connell, an ecologist who wrote a series of landmark papers starting in the late 1970s.
Connell’s work is unusual in that it does not address the properties of any one species or place, but is rather a contribution to systems science, an abstraction of general patterns in ecological systems.
The Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis says that disturbed ecosystems (which pretty much describes all of them, because they live in a connected world where everything jostles everything else) have a property that they are the most diverse when subjected to an intermediate level of disturbance.
What this means is that the rare unperturbed ecosystem will ossify- one species will take over and the system will freeze.
It becomes brittle and easily toppled by a Black Swan (or shark, or mongoose, since this is ecology, after all) event.
At the other extreme, a system pummeled by change is unable to develop at all as it is continuously beaten back, addled by too much input.
The Sweet Spot
But in-between there is a sweet spot where a number of species co-exist in a flexible and adaptable way.
The claim, sometimes disputed, is that those intermediate ecologies are the most robust and the hardest to wipe out- there is an intertwining of dependencies that makes for a strong network where the positives of beneficial interdependence prevail over the negatives of competition for resources.
We have made the connection of ecosystems of species to ecosystems of creative thought in the past, in case you’re thinking this is a shaggy dog story.
It is a little bit shaggy, but we have a destination in mind.
An Abstract & Symbolic Synthesis Of Art & Science
It reminds me of Hermann Hesse’s Glass Bead Game, a kind of science fiction novel set in the 25th century and Hesse’s last work, published during World War II.
Herman Hesse
The game in the novel is essentially an abstract and symbolic synthesis of all arts and sciences. It proceeds by players making deep connections between seemingly unrelated topics.
So we are connecting with our internal Hesse to speak the ambition of the sciences of complexity.
Complexity Science & The Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis
In the forest modeling efforts, Bruce’s team of scientists saw ample evidence of the Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis.
Highly disturbed systems were dominated by fast growing “weedy” trees like aspens, endlessly burning and regrowing.
Aspens
Relatively undisturbed systems evolved to a static climax forest, mature trees of all one type that changed very slowly, new growth only occurring when a forest giant died of old age.
Monoculture
These single species forests, or monocultures are fragile, a small change in the rules of the game could cause an extinction.
Unlike in studies of real forests, the team was able to play the tape again with a different sequence of lightning strikes so as to gain insight into robust properties of their model forest and to convince themselves that any given result was not a fluke but was representative of general behavior.
Diverse forest
The scientists observed that, at an intermediate level of disturbance, an endlessly fascinating mosaic emerged and shimmered, never settling down but continually and slowly morphing.
A little bit like the El Farol problem we discussed in the COVID-19 blog post, an endless churn created by the interaction of social networks with a popular destination.
The little “society of trees” never settled down.
An Ecology Of Ideas
Imagine an ecology of ideas, some flashy and burning hot like resinous pines, others slow and patient and prone to smoldering like great redwoods.
Forest fire
If your internal life is dominated by flashy ideas, life becomes a series of intense distractions with no sticking power, leaping from one shiny object to the next and never going deeply into anything,
If, on the other extreme, your internal landscape is dominated by tall and ancient ideas, it is quiet and peaceful with little change. Not much light makes it to the forest floor, a solemn quiet only rarely punctuated by birdsong.
If your goal is a creative life, you need both kinds of ideas- flashes of novelty and persistent contemplation.
And then you need consistent action to implement your ideas.
When we discussed the nature of luck and how it could be influenced by conscious habits, one of the examples we presented was to vary the routes you take to work because something unknown, surprising and beneficial could happen.
The novelty side of the coin is the different routes. The persistent side is the going to work part.
You need your very own intermediate disturbance hypothesis.
A Churchill quote we’re fond of is,
When people stumble over the truth, they often pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened.
Winston Churchill
Unlike Churchill’s hurrying avatar, a creative person needs to both be going somewhere and to take note when you stumble over something interesting.
Let that be you as you make your way through the forest of your life.
With gratitude from my studio to yours,
Nancy
P.S. If you enjoy this, you’ll love my book The Artist’s Journey: Bold Strokes To Spark Creativity. Available in print and Audiobook.
The Artists Journey Bold Strokes To Spark Creativity-Audio Book- Nancy Hillis MD
Intermediate disturbace hypothesis and resulting secondary succession meaningful due to a career teaching life sciences. So many connections hidden till this moment. Will be enrollong in activating the canvas. Muy exciting
Thanks Jim. Fantastic! This will be fun!
I really liked the forest fire example, since some of my adult children are firefighters, and the science which predicts the models of the “Intermediate level of disturbance.” I am visualizing this while I read! While protecting old and stable, but not dramatically changing forest life, while anticipating new life on the other side occurs in the space in-between these elements and becomes the line where the adjacent possible opens up to us. Ancient ideas with strong roots push us forward with confidence to embrace surprise/ novelty, which leave us to contemplate and appreciate the interactions – to start a new dialog or chapter in life!
What a wonderful analogy you two!
Denise
Hey Denise,
Yes, yes, yes! I always love reading your reflections.
Warmly,
Nancy
This is really interesting and speaks to me of the need for diversity which is so topical right now. With that diversity comes strength of culture, society and health and wellbeing of all. I also loved the analogy of the novelty side being met but also the consistent side of going to work providing the balance. I am notoriously bad at finding other things to do than getting into the studio, especially as we have just moved. This week I decided to buy my own version of my artist uniform in the form of dungarees so now ‘when I am having a studio day” I will dress in my uniform and see if that helps…….may be novelty but hey if it works! Thank you for your insights and loving the depth of exploration in yours and Bruce’s conversations that lead to these insights for us. Stay safe and well xxx
Again another stimulating and beautifully written blog. If I am ever asked who I would most like to invite for dinner you and Bruce are on the top of the list as I am both intrigued and inspired by your conversations. Maybe a visit down under one day.
MY REPLY IS ABOVE–BUT THANK U FOR ADDING INSIGHTFUL THOUGHTS TO MY LIFE JUDITH
Thank u Nancy==i read your blogs–bought your book months ago–it is a Gem—my husband died a few months ago so i am reestablishing my priorities= hiking my mountains walking my dogs–and working in my studio–what a lovely way to live in this crazy world===thank u for You in my life—judith Lindenberg my artist name litten
Dear Nancy, for many years I have considered myself a part of nature and like nature, my life has been one of adaptation. Like the adaptation of plant lives, my life has been one of adaptation to opportunities as they present themselves. To put it another way, when I am ready things seem to happen. Since retirement 20 years ago I have done art and studied history and the spirit of art. Your book came up on my Kindle Audio version and here I am. Thanks!
Hi Nancy, I so enjoy your posts. I feel as if I have been invited to my own special talk Thank you for your time and expertise you share. I am dividing my me time between reading the eight perfect murder mysteries and watercolor. I love both. I read much better than I paint.
As a Supposedly mature…..Aka older woman……. this was a very reflective well written post. I find more sweet spurs as I age really as in not trying to grow up. (I gave that up) Nice make a living. In enjoying the fruits of my labourof a working life I am so excited most days to live in the moment and stumble on creativity most days even if it is fleeting and hope abounds that u will remember that creative moment and act on it. Get so excited when a creative idea flashes that is different. Guess I get bored sometimes with what I can do okay and yearn fir something that really turns my crank that is different. Thanks for the Sunday morning read. Is your book available at chapters? Looks interesting.
Hi Clare,
Thank you for your kind words and for being here. My book is available online at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Book Depository and Bookshop Santa Cruz.
Warmly,
Nancy
Dear Nancy, nothing novel to say, but a thank you for being you. I enjoy your blog so much and look forward to each Sunday morning. I have learned much from you guys. Bless you.
Dear Shauna,
You’re welcome! Thank you for showing up here and commenting. I’m delighted that you’re enjoying the blog!
Warmly,
Nancy
Love this post with its combination of creativity and science. I recall the morning I drove to work and a hawk flew straight at the front of my car and over it. I take this sort of thing as a message to wake up. Why not?
Thank you Karen! Your experience of the hawk reminds me of the morning I was driving over the mountain to work and an eagle was soaring overhead with a snake in its talons! Astonishing! Yes, why not wake up now?
Warmly,
Nancy
I love this analogy, especially because nature is my go to for keeping grounded, and is my meditative place.
Thank you so much Shelley. Yes (nature).
Warmly,
Nancy
Fascinating. I have just stumbled upon your name and your blog and your art.
This is PROVIDENTIAL for me.
I used to ‘do art’, I have had a few life changing events, (husband’s sudden illness and death), house flooding, now new home and finally settled in… then COVID…. Now I am trying to rebuild my life in interesting and rewarding ways… I am young-ish (65 this year… well, that is young to me, I am very healthy) and I am seeking to establish a new, varied and wonderful life and BRING making ART back to my world.
Thank you for this stimulating article/blog. I will look you up and find other writings and buy your book.
Thank you. You hit the right note at the right moment. (PS – nothing is by chance!)
Thank you Bettsie! It’s wonderful that after grappling with these losses you’re embracing life and seeking to rebuild and bring art back into your world. Perfect timing. Auspicious.
Warmly,
Nancy
You are an inspiration to me. Rock on!!!