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 When Do People Create? Teacher: When do people create?

Beta: What do you mean “when”?

Kappa: Well, sometimes we do, don’t we?

Delta: And the question is “when?”

Beta: I’m thinking we need to clarify the question.

Teacher: That never hurts.

Gamma: We are not talking about time, are we? We’re talking about situations, right?

Teacher: Of course.

Alpha: I know! It’s like when someone hasn’t prepared for a test. One should be ve-e-e-ry creative!

Teacher: Could be. Can you elaborate?

Gamma: Could it be that one has to reinvent some scientific data in that case? Is that what you mean?

Alpha: If people are not prepared, they guess. Nothing else.

Kappa: But some people guess better than others.

Alpha: “Creative guessing!” Ha ha ha!

Kappa: Why don’t we turn to the arts?

Delta: It’s too obvious. Of course people create while making art. That’s got to be true by definition!

Teacher: Not necessarily.

Delta: I got it. If a painter is just copying the unique work of another artist, he is not creating, is he?

Teacher: Not necessarily.

Gamma: I watched a movie, The Moderns. A very talented painter got a commission to make copies of some of Matisse’s paintings because a woman wanted to steal the originals away from her husband. Then she robbed the painter because she didn’t want to pay him. But she mistook the copies for the originals. And the painter was really proud afterwards that he was able to make such perfect copies!

Alpha: OK, he was proud. What does that tell us?

Beta: Well, he was talented, and he was proud he could do it. It does tell us something.

Alpha: What?