What can Designers Learn from the Creativity of Biological Evolution?
Scientists have estimated that around 8.7 million species exist on earth. Astonishing creation! But how do novelties and diversity emerge in biological evolution? Recently I read Life Finds a Way (What Evolution Teaches Us About Creativity) by biologist Andreas Wagner. It reveals creativity secret in biological evolution. That is how creatures find optimum solutions in a complex environment to evolve.
The book hammers out three powers that drive life’s evolution: Natural selection, Genetic drift, and Genetic recombination. The latter two are the critical driving force of creativity in evolution.
Why and How?
Let us briefly show these findings through Wager’s research insights.
Natural selection is well-known. Creatures are more likely to survive if they adapt to their environment. Natural selection is a kind of extrinsic filtering mechanism in evolution. It ruthlessly weeds out inferior variants in favor of locally optimal solutions. However, it doesn’t benefit the creativity of natural evolution because it lacks tolerance for failure and only pursues efficiency. The other two powers are core factors that promote novelties in evolution since they bring new combinations and changes.
Genetic drift is a mechanism of evolution characterized by random fluctuations in a population’s frequency of a particular gene version. Since Genetic drift results in random, non-directional changes in the gene pool of a species, it helps species roam small-scale landscapes to find better optima or even the global optimum potentially. Over time, Genetic drift gradually changes the genetic matrix of an organism, activating nature’s creativity.
As the second force of creativity in evolution, Genetic recombination helps species jump long distances within the adaptive landscapes. The most phenomena are sexual reproduction which helps organisms achieve large-scale genetic recombination. The greater the DNA difference between the parents, the greater the teleportation distance after recombination, and the greater the creative consequences.
In the adaptive landscapes of biological evolution, Natural selection pushes species to move up to the nearest peak; if species trend downward, they will be more likely weeded out by selection. Yet, the nearest peak is likelier to be a local optimum, which is not necessarily the highest peak in the landscape (a global optimum). To jump to a higher or different peak, Genetic drift and Genetic recombination are potent forces that activate creativity.
When evolution can temporarily be freed from natural selection, and when evolution can freely explore the creative landscape of nature, the creativity of nature blossoms. Whenever evolution creates a gazelle that runs faster, a bird that flies higher, or a fish that dives deeper, it’s often because of solving a vast combinatorial optimization problem. Most creative will be nonsensical, but many will not. Also, there are many possible solutions to a problem. So many that they form networks. Wagner called it a hidden architecture that accelerates life’s ability to innovate.
It bears a striking resemblance to the way humans work in all fields, including the design area. Natural selection is like convergent thinking in the design process, while Genetic drift and Genetic recombination are more like divergent thinking. The key is how to leverage them well in a balanced design process. Here are some insights from the book that hopes to inspire design professionals.
Creativity Comes from Continuous “Evolution,” and The Path is not Smooth.
Creation needs time to evolve.
One of the critical characteristics of evolution is low efficiency. Low efficiency in the short term seems to be poor delivery, but the most incredible creativity needs to grow with time. The creative changes brought by Genetic Drift and Genetic Recombination require long time evolution. In the short term, genetic drift helps evolution climb new hills in the genetics landscape while accelerating the birth of new species with unique habits. The short term here refers to the hundreds of years it takes to form new species. Innovation bursts on a given island typically span millions of years.
A designer’s creation depends on iterated evolution and active risk-taking. We all have this experience, and many ideas emerge during the process. These ideas are good and bad, and not all of them are planned. Most of the time, you find that design ideas can’t go on and have to back to the original and try differently. The design process is not smooth, nor is it up. Exploring the optimal solution requires a longer time, particularly when addressing a complex problem.
For designers, considering that design needs to evolve and lots of randomnesses happen in the process, don’t be afraid of getting messy; it’s part of the creative journey. An excellent designer has the power of antifragility; it doesn’t mean they always can do nice design; they just enjoy the tortuous process and seldom give up. Even hitting a dead end, they will find a way to go back and try again. A poor solution is often paving the way for a better answer on the road.
Keep trial and keep patience!
Efficiency and productivity are highly valued in modern society, but not all areas should view efficiency as the highest priority. For example, Fundamental research is inefficient, characterized by extensive planting and low harvesting. Design creativity is also inefficient, requiring continuous exploration and errors over time.
In reality, design work in enterprises lacks sufficient evolutionary cycles. In many cases, target short-term project requirements, and the design activity stops abruptly after solving the local optimization problem. It does not help the generation of precious solutions (global optimization solutions). It is unrealistic not to pursue efficiency, but efficiency and high productivity cannot be used blindly as a primary KPI of a designer’s performance. Near-term and long-term projects can be defined. For more long-term projects, giving designers an entire cycle of design iteration and free exploration.
Design Creativity needs Trial and Error with an Amount of Practice.
A fault-tolerance environment inspires creativity. The more practices and errors within a fault-tolerance environment, the more novelties easily emerge. Natural selection only stubbornly goes up and cannot turn back. Suppose evolution depends only on natural selection; the species will fall into a dead end at a particular stage of development due to its nature to forbid downwards. However, the actual evolution is driven by undirected, convex-free exploration or trial and error, which is inherently resilient and full of creativity. Such as, the location of each DNA mutation and recombination in the genome is random, and each random change may change the path of evolution. It can acquire potentially unanticipated gains from continuous, repeated, minor, local errors.
Allowing designers to trial and error requests the organization to provide an open culture and fault tolerance environment. Suppose a designer struggling with a short-term project goal and urgent project timeline can hardly stand any small mistakes, not say in cube more variant creativity ideas. Building a culture that welcomes failure and encourages experimental design and research is critical to inspire creativity. It enables designers to trial more, not blindly pursuing efficiency and short-term business goals.
Further, you have to keep practicing.
A creator’s best results often come when they are most productive. The most fruitful stage also means the outbreak of practice and ideological sparks, more likely stimulating new creations. Mager talked about the case of Picasso. Before Picasso created “Guernica,” one of the most powerful and the best-known artwork, he had already stored many images in his mind. When considering figure options for Guernica, Picasso created 42 studies of mural details. His earlier sketches for “Guernica “also result from previous wealthy works. For example, the figure of a woman with a dead child is like a print from Francisco de Goya’s Disasters of War series. Likewise, the physicist Paul Dirac had to be proficient in physics and mathematics. Otherwise, he would not be able to predict the existence of antimatter. Beethoven needed to read countless movements before he could compose his symphony.
For designers, we need lifelong learning and continuous accumulation of experience. The only possibility to produce good designs is to not give up on design and keep up practice with an open mind.
A Creative Mind Creates Things on Purpose.
Every biological group is tirelessly looking for solutions to their problems. Sharks seek to save energy when hunting, bacteria seek to get rid of antibiotics, herbivores seek to save energy while chasing, and they are looking to survive by collecting leaves that are not rich in nutrients.
Nature exhibits a good balance of creativity; they balance imagination leaps with real constraints and identify high-priority problems to solve. For an organism, when genetic shifts and genetic recombination go too far, natural selection pulls them back into reality, facing the hill that needs to be conquered first in adapting to the natural landscape. The organism has to find a way to solve the problem meaningfully. Purposeful creation is essential to life.
Some people may question, didn’t you say to pursue free exploration in the design process? Yes, the design needs more open and flexible exploration, but it does not mean the whole process is disordered and random. Quite the contrary, Design requires methodical and purposeful thinking. In their life, design masters have continuously developed their creative philosophy and vision. The design philosophy is precisely the core goal that guides their creation. For example, in Fallingwater Villa, the architect Frank Wright has a clear vision embedded in his creation. This classic building interprets his philosophy well: it is to build harmony between human Life and nature, integrating living scenes and the natural environment rather than separating them. In preparation for Guernica, Picasso did not turn to a child at play, a flower in bloom, or a rising sun, because he had an exact purpose of knowing what he needed to express. Any material has to be removed if it doesn’t help to convey the ineffable intentions.
Without a clear intention, design creation is a disorderly, meaningless activity. We should live with the problems we want to address. Knowing this earlier is particularly essential for new designers. Since young designers haven’t developed a deep connection to reality, they are more inclined to do fanciful and unconstrained designs.
How to address it?
Study how natural evolution balances reality and imagination leap! Designers must genuinely face the real challenges and develop creative realism in their careers. Creative realism, equivalently to realistic thinking that is creative, refers to creative thinking that makes contact with real issues and problems. We must design based on real problems rather than designing disorderly without any purpose and direction.
When a designer is used to living with the real problem and is passionate about addressing it, he can gradually develop a better sense of the problem and identify the design direction. There are many problems to be faced in reality. Which is more meaningful to explore, and which has a higher priority? A great design thinker can more easily sense meaningful directions in trying to solve problems, even though they might not be aware of the actual reasons behind these choices. It developed consciously during long-term practice.
Creativity Comes more from Autonomy.
Competition does not necessarily bring abundant creativity. Autonomy is the source of creativity. When external competition is not very strong, the creativity of nature blossoms, driven by autonomy. Life Finds a Way reveals a dramatic phenomenon to prove this. When some creatures can survive on an island that is isolated from external competition and, at the same time, provide a suitable living environment, fresh and empty, then the biological evolution of the island shows the explosion of innovation. Island species strive hard to evolve new ways of island life. The first finches on the Galapagos Islands fed on soft-bodied insects. Some of these species nowadays have evolved large nutcracker-like beaks to hold even the most challenging seeds. In the Canary Islands, some close relatives of blue thistle have evolved into giant woody plants more than five meters high, supported by a drought-tolerant root system at the base and topped by a gorgeous cylindrical inflorescence. The woodpecker, endemic to the Galapagos Islands, uses tools like cactus thorns or twigs to scare out insects hiding in tree trunks, another remarkable skill created by evolution. The creativity evolution of these species is from innate power, not brutal competition, and it is stimulated as long as there is a suitable environment.
We can explain it from the view of the adaptive landscape: Conquering complex landscapes requires autonomous explorers, whether DNA-mutated organisms or human trailblazers, who go from different directions within the adaptive landscape to create colorful solutions. An explorer must blaze his path because no one knows where to find a solution to a problem. The interdependent selves are bound, and the independent selves muster the courage to stand alone. This is why autonomy plays such a central role in creativity.
What does this mean for the design field? It implies that KPI-driven performance evaluation cannot promote the creative motivation of designers. Increasing autonomy is the key. In addition to short-term business goals and external KPIs, organizations need to spark designers’ internal creative force and provide space for them to explore directions on their own. As Bell Labs pioneer Mervyn Kelly realized, business innovation also requires autonomy. Researchers need to meet the requirements of strategic goals, but it is up to them to explore how to achieve them. Without autonomy, Bell Labs scientists wouldn’t have discovered the transistor.
Summary
Creativity is the ability to explore vast and complex landscapes. New, useful, and beautiful in the world permanently originate from this. The core principles we learn from the book are to adopt an evolution pathway, encourage purposeful autonomous exploration, and pursue diversity and amounts of trials. The principles perfectly work for the design field.
Continue to see the related articles below: Innovating Meanings Through Design. and Creativity in Design
