Maeda's SIMPLICITY

The Silence of Creativity

2008-02-05 00:37:16.480 painter[2462] REQUESTING load file named: mydata_blank.xml with numberid 1 out of 9
>>>>############ DOING CLEANUP
>>>>#### cleaned
>>> TOTAL LAYERS IS 33
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> set time to zero
**** drawview clearframep = 0
########################################DOING COMMON

> Prepping fb mgr ...
> Done.
/Users/maeda/python/bezshape.py:146: DeprecationWarning: integer argument expected, got float
for i in range(ni):
0 1
412.112297299 42.8183057777
2 3
333.76680165 156.817400328
4 5
371.739947367 112.152049732
6 7
152.322836043 96.5593323427
connecting
>> data 0
>> xml
>> lengths
>> scanning id
>>>>>>>>>> IDNUM IS 277
>>> made it
>>> going ahead with (102, 7, 3)
************************** GOTTA FREE LOTS OF MEMORY SOMEDAY HERE ************
**** drawview clearframep = 0
########################################DOING COMMON
> Prepping fb mgr ...
>> Brushes cleaned.
> Done.
0 1
240.368698757 65.0427509257
2 3
72.7788784829 71.6847370451
...

I realize that in my 41st year of life, one thing remains the same: I still listen intently to the strange codes that emit from the computer during the debugging of any new work. Programming to me has never been something I've enjoyed -- I've been quite open about that. Sure, there was a time in my life when I teetered on enjoying the process of it all more than the finished work; and then I would quickly swing back to a preference of focusing on the outcome instead. I owe that thought to one of my mentors from long ago.

For me, it is maybe the process of simply thinking about something in a creative sense ... that gets me excited. Does it have to result in something? Yes. That seems odd really. Because if all I cared about being creative was just to do something creative, then I wouldn't need to get to a finished result. No. Getting to some endpoint seems to be the real enjoyment. It's not for others to recognize the fruits of your work; it's for yourself. The desire is to complete a thought. So then ... you can go on and find a new one to torment yourself with. The intellectual torment ... is ... fun? Hmmmm. Difficult to say. Perhaps it is a kind of acquired taste for an odd pleasure.

Gerry Sussman put this all succinctly for me the other day quite graciously. And my debt to MIT continues to grow ...