Why the Knowledge-Based Economy Can’t Forget Creatives.
I think it’s time to face the music. Manufacturing isn’t going to save us. Our only option is to move forward. To many that means Tech Jobs. They’re the “Jobs of the Future”. Upwards and onwards to the Knowledge-Based Economy.
Lately, I’ve been hearing a lot of talk about this so-called Knowledge-Based Economy. When it’s brought up, they usually mean tech and innovation. Nebulous terms that lead to statements like, “There must be more STEM-focused curriculums.” And with that focus on math and science, we cut more and more from the arts and physical activities. But here’s the thing. Isn’t creativity a type of knowledge too?
There are many studies that show when children are learning music and performing acts of creativity they’re developing larger areas of their brains. Time and time again science shows that music leads to higher capability in nonmusical areas.
But personally, I think that looking at how creative studies help in noncreative endeavors only further devalues what art and creativity bring to the human experience. The tech world was largely a niche market, dominated by nerds and intellectuals until a few pioneering minds began to blur the lines with art and design. From the Macs that revolutionized personal computing to apps that interact in more organic ways, art is where the true innovation lives.
Artists spend most of their time observing the world and then expressing it in new ways. They’re uniquely capable of seeing the things that we think are commonplace, and showing them to us anew. As the world becomes more digital, the way we consume information must remain grounded in authentic experiences. Our brains have evolved to comprehend in this way over thousands of years. Now everything’s changed in mere decades.
Even with major advancements in robotics and digital realities art is needed. How can we build a more life-like robot? Artists have been exploring anatomy and mechanics for thousands of years through illustration, animation, and of course, animatronics. How about an immersive world that enables communication between labs, around the world? Well, through design and the creation of fantasy worlds, artists have been flushing out theories of what the future holds for a century at least.
Minority report laid the groundwork for many of our digital interfaces today. All fantasy, all art, and all completely relevant in the tech revolution. Many great minds count themselves among the countless people inspired by Gene Roddenberry’s Star trek. It inspired technologists to dream up solutions to the complex and often inconceivable ideas presented that eventually became commonplace in our lives today.
Elon Musk, a personal hero and stereotypical movie super villain, cites Star Trek, Star Wars, and A Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy as major influences. Components of his products are even named after his Sci-Fi passions. This man, who is moving heaven and earth to escape the earth and explore the heavens, credits much of his world-changing technology to passions inspired by creative endeavors.
Why is this important? Because art influences science and science inspires art. To place more value on either weakens the other. Without exploration, technology, science, and mathematics, we wouldn’t have learned how the world around us works. But without art, creativity, and passionately inquisitive minds, we might not have pondered so deeply about our world to investigate it. We may not have so curiously sought to understand why all the pieces did or didn’t fit together. And yes, I believe the most progressive and revolutionary technologists and scientists are indeed artists. They employ the same out of the box thinking that we creative types do when we run into a challenge. I think we, as a society, should value creative thinking, art, design, music, and expression in the same ways we value STEM. Because, when computers start handling all the math, complex logistics, and programming through artificial intelligence, we’re going to have to be damn creative to stay relevant.
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Eric Thomas is a Branding Specialist and Senior Partner at Saga MKTG based in Detroit MI. He’s also an entrepreneur who never believes “the way it has been done” is the “way it must be done.”
