Re: OT: Tinkering versus creativity

Mark J. Reed wrote:
> Bah!   A pox on the notion that tinkering isn't creative!
I second that emotion. In fact, tinkering is probably the very foundation of
creativity. If you aren't interested in how something works, to begin with,
why tinker with it?

One of the answers (which he himself gives) to Prof. Dutch's questions is:
Politics, money, and practicality-- the latter two also rule most of our
lives, for better or worse.
Another is: "Many are called, few are chosen"
Corollary: Most people are concerned simply with staying alive, making a
living, leaving progeny etc., and "if it was good enough for my father, it's
good enough for me."

(And I think Toynbee's "Study of History" has a lot more to say about this,
sometimes just in passing, than Jared Diamond-- or Carl Sagan, much as I
enjoyed him.)

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