Thoughts on Imagination

The lion-headed man of Hollensten-Stadely carved from mammoth ivory, dated around 32,000 years ago is the oldest known Zoomorphic Chinera in the world, the first known example of imagination in use, or the earliest evidence we have atleast.

What’s interesting is that imagination and creativity come from inspiration and remixing. 32,000 years ago would have been a time of much less inspiration to remix in creative ways. So with that knowledge you’d think that people in our contemporary culture would have much more inspiration - innate inspiration to pull from - thus being more creative, right?

Yet scores in the TTCT (Torrent Test of Creative Thinking) have significantly decreased since 1990. Obviously there’s a big difference between 32,000 years and the last 30 years since 1990, and can’t be used as a marker for the decrease of creative ability for any longer than the last 30 years, but since 1990 the world has seen the internet etc. We’re living in sci-fi novels of the past, surely as with each new generation there should be a constant and consistent supply of new ideas to pull from, yet the scores are lower, is the world so full that it’s overwhelming? Is it too distracting?

Ken Robinson thinks that it’s to do with our education systems and ironically, since this information has come from testing, Robinson believed rigorous school testing is a big cause of anti-creative thinking.

Morris, D. 2013. The Artistic Ape. Red Lemon Press. Great Britain. Pg 71 (YouTube)

Creativity Explained (2017). An overview of the Torrent Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT). 28.04.2017. Available at URL (Accessed 23.11.2021)