CREATIVE DRIVE

The newsletter for people by people and about people, including you

NUMBER 15

How wonderful it is to be real! We're the envy of cyborgs everywhere!

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Look at yourself. Yes, I want you to face the mirror for a minute or two. Study your expression. Marvel at those incredible, colorful, translucent eyes. They're miraculous. You really are magnificent, regardless of any self-perception you have or whatever standard of beauty you might pursue. The existence of you is a unique occurrence. Your birth and maturation constitute a lifelong process–an event–that you alone are privileged to enjoy.

Life can reveal its plan for you, but the plan you devise should be preferable. The life you experience should be the life you lead. The common experience of life is of course inescapable. If you're human, you'll have all the feelings, all the happiness, all the emotional outbursts, all the nostalgia and all the wonderment that every other person will. However, the choices you make and the steps you take will, during the course of years, inscribe your signature in the vast lakebed of human existence. We can easily think of our efforts as footprints on the slope of a vast dune. It's reasonable to do so, but it doesn't mean we never set foot upon the sand.

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Why You're So Amazing

Consider any of the remarkable things you can do, and you'll realize that no other species can match the versatility of your intelligence and skill. You can ascend a mountain on foot, by rope or even barehanded, and from the top you can hurtle toward the valley in a wingsuit. You can play a fierce tennis match—a sport that scientists say activates every quarter of the brain–and then contemplate your victory as you soak in an ice bath. You can read books, teach children to cook, sew a hem, write a sonata, rebuild a transmission and compose an essay. You can get too close to a bison or something else outside the bounds of reason. You can save the whales and the wolves, help those who need it, diagnose and treat diseases, create masterworks of art, design and build vaulted ceilings, and . . . demonstrate compassion. You can love others, which benefits the world. All these things and so much more are possible because you're a human.

Some people are impressed with the capabilities of artificial intelligence, but it's foolish to be sycophantic. You weren't born to envy or emulate AI. In fact, AI was created to imitate you. Artificial intelligence is a boon to medical science, precision manufacturing, genetic research and other challenging areas, but basically it saves time. If answers are needed immediately, AI can offer a range of choices. It cannot discern which of many options will have the most integrity. So, in all these cases AI should merely serve the people who employ it.

AI isn't creative, but you're a genius in that respect. Yes, you're a genius. Regardless of whether you consider the term to be complimentary or the equivalent of admission to a mental-care facility, the speed of thought and depth of ideational interconnection you possess is light years ahead of anything humankind could manufacture.

It's simple, though. After all, you weren't made on a production line. You weren't synthesized or formulated. You're not a list of algorithms. The elemental components of your self–your being–came into existence shortly after the Big Bang, whereafter they circulated and ultimately coalesced in this place we call Earth. After billions of years, a certain ultra-specific combination of genes resulted in the you we all know and love.

Take that, AI. Human intelligence will kick your butt any day of the week.

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We Have It All

If I were a cyborg--an expensive, super-sophisticated robot--I'd probably dream of being something just like you: a real, live human being. I'd want to be sentient and know it; to have that reasoning without the need for an explanation. If I were a robot, I'd want to taste a big, juicy apple, press my toes into damp, wormy soil, paint a messy self-portrait, and buy myself a cup of coffee. I'd want to do all of the things that humans do without a moment of doubt or worry. If I were a cyborg, I'd want to savor the simple act of walking. It would be utterly natural and easy. I in turn would be the envy of my . . . . Wait a second. I was about to say "friends," but I probably wouldn't have those.

You have friends, though, and you have family in all its expressions. How much more could a person want? Your aspirations are high as the sky, your dreams are so lucid as to be almost prescient, and you can laugh out loud whenever you want to. Your singing voice alone is the most beautiful sound in the galaxy!

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Celebrate Your Life!

This is your moment. It's your hour of glory, your day of excellence, your year of achievement and your decade of discovery. It's the Zen of you, here and now. So, do something new in recognition of your uniqueness. Even if it's simply to smile at a stranger, the future you will look back at the moment with pride. Go forth!

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A QUICK EXERCISE

We now present a minute or two of sheer torture. Yes, it's another brain-hammering run through the wilds of creative problem-solving. Are you ready? That's good, but I'm not. I have to come up with something, and it . . . . It has just come to me! Okay, here's an exercise that'll test your ability to invent. After all, if you invented a cyborg, you'd want it to have abilities and characteristics. Start with those you have, and everything else will be easier.

Complete each of the following sentences with five to ten additional solution-oriented words:

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I was innocent of the crime, so I gained the executioner's sympathy by ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________.

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The only formula for success in man's effort to be free will involve the ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________.

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Desperate to prove my undying love, I ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________.

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In response to the question, "How can you stand to be yourself" I thoughtfully replied, "____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________.

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I love exercises like these because they appear to be freeform but are really more specific. In each case the answer should be compact but complete. So, I look forward to the next issue, in which I can provide my solutions. How will you do with yours?

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THANK YOU for reading this issue of Creative Drive. If you enjoyed it, please subscribe to the expanded edition. It's just $8 per month for four weekly issues. Send a PayPal to [email protected], or send an email and we'll add your name to the list.

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See you next time!

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? Copyright 2023 by Lawrence Payne. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced.

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