Let the creative juices flow through social networks

THE internet is killing creativity - or at least that is what some people would have us believe. By making it easier than ever to discover, copy and modify other people's ideas, the online "mash-up culture" removes the pressure to innovate. For the first time in evolutionary history, our species no longer needs creative ideas.

It doesn't take a lot of thought to conclude that this is probably nonsense. Creativity researchers have spent half a century analysing the conditions under which great art, literature and scientific insights flourish. Perhaps their most useful conclusion is that creative feats rarely happen in a vacuum. The romantic notion of the lone genius is largely a myth; those we remember for their originality usually owe as much to their social circles as to their own ability.

If so, there is no reason to think that the internet is the enemy of creativity. Quite the opposite in fact (see "A recipe for creativity").

Mash-up culture will no doubt generate vast quantities of derivative drivel. So what? Most cultures do. But great ideas float - and in the age of the internet, they float faster than ever. Creativity has never had it so good.

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