"Creative Imitation” Whats All The Fuss?
It seems that there are a few blog posts and comments going around on "Creative Imitation" ,
What Is All The Fuss?
So here is the original blog posting at Alex Mandossian's blog that was posted by Jeff Herring (aka. The Internet Article Guy)
And it has to do with one of the quotes that Alex teaches his students:
“Never invent, always improve”
Heck, even we made a comment on the original blog posting, because we are good friends with both Alex and Jeff and it made sense to us. We try to Creatively Imitate when ever or where ever possible.
Jeff also posted the same posting on his own blog here. No big deal.
Now a couple of days later Stu McLaren (aka. The Idea Guy) (we are friends with Stu too, he's Canadian, eh) posted a comment on Alex/Jeff's original blog posting and also created his own blog posting here.
A quote from Stu's blog post:
"Personally, I have mixed feelings regarding the way this is presented to small business owners. On the outside, it sounds like all you have to do is model leaders in your industry and you’ll succeed."
Then Stu got a comment from Diane Eble, who then posted her own blog entry here. A quote from that blog entry:
"There’s quite an interesting discussion going on about “creative imitation”–what it is, and whether it’s good or bad."
So we searched Wikipedia.org for "Creative Imitation," and it couldn't be found. So we searched for Creative and Imitation
For Creativity we get:
"Creativity is a mental process involving the generation of new ideas or concepts , or new associations of the creative mind between existing ideas or concepts. An alternative conception of creativity is that it is simply the act of making something new."
And for Imitation we get:
"Imitation is an advanced behavior whereby an individual observes and replicates another's. The word can be applied in many contexts, ranging from animal training to international politics ."
So what is all the fuss? Didn't we just "Creatively Imitate" everyone?
We would love your comment.
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Comments on "Creative Imitation” Whats All The Fuss?
Hi Pat and Lorna!
Quite a fun discussion we have going here, huh?
Here is my response to Stu's comment:
"Hey Stu -
Thanks for taking the time to contribute your comment to my guest post on Alex Mandossian’s blog. I think we have the beginnings of a really good discussion here, and I hope we can keep it going.
The curious thing is that you and I are on the same page about creativity. My post was not intended to frame “creative imitation” as an end-to-end solution to be used at all times.
My definition of creativity goes like this:
“Creativity is simply looking at something that has always been there and seeing something that has never been seen before.”
From that definition I pull these two additional definitions:
“Creative activation” – what most people would call invention, I look at as seeing something that has never been seen before and creating something new. A good example would be the work of Walt Disney.
“Creative imitation” – learning from someone else’s work and using it as a jumping off point for putting your own, sometimes better, twist on it.
Having said that, there was another point being made in that blog post.
I don’t know if you had the time to look at the link to Eric Gruber’s course or some of the other comments.
The intention of the two examples given were twofold:
1. To highlight how my “creative imitation” of Alex Mandossian helped me to launch my teleseminar business and all I have been able to create in the short time since then.
2. The second example was intended to highlight how someone has taken my work with http://www.ArticleWritingandMarketingSecrets.com and done something other than creative imitation. I’ll let others and the comments of others on this blog name what they think that something might be.
Again, Stu, thanks for taking the time to contribute your comment and for starting a discussion about this on your own blog.
I hope we can have a discussion that benefits us all.
And all the best to you too,
Jeff"
Again, this is a great discussion, and I hope we can keep it going.
Take care,
Jeff
Everything that is man-made is a result of creative imitation. There's no absolutely original creation. All human inventions and innovations came about through associating with prior knowledge and experience. For example the camera was basically a creative imitation of the eye, then evolved into digital and video camera which were were the incorporated into the mobile phone.Each stage was a creative imitation or adaptation of earlier advances. The only original creations originate from nature.