The Internet vs. Creativity

Published on 1st November, 2007 by Stephen Lewis

The internet kills creativity. We’ve all got pressing deadlines and limited resources, and the internet is just sitting there, promising a quick solution to our problem, in exchange for a few minutes’ Googling.

In the case of a coding quandary, that solution is usually a snippet of code, or maybe a piece of third-party software. Free (or cheap), easy, already tested; the simplest, quickest, most cost-effective way to overcome the current roadblock.

Sometimes, though, a better solution can be found by making life difficult for yourself. Disconnecting from the outside world, and making do with what you already know, and already have. Finding a creative solution to a technical problem, if you will.

Cunning and Guile

This is why I love this CAPTCHA idea (potentially NSFW), regardless of its nefarious underpinnings. Unlike his peers, the creator of this delicious piece of lateral thinking didn’t assume that the answer to a technical problem (how to automatically decipher CAPTCHAs) was a more technically advanced solution (better OCR).

He preferred to make creative use of his existing resources.

In-Here, not Out-There

As I acknowledged at the start of this post, we’re all subject to certain pressures, and frequently we’ve just got to get the job done as quickly as possible, without “reinventing the wheel” (as proponents of the “Google for a pre-existing solution” would say).

Just remember though, the next time you’re facing a problem, the best solution may be in-here, not out-there.