Beyond the adjacent possible: On the irreducibility of human creativity to biology and physics

In this article, the problem of understanding multiple layers of complexity in our universe is addressed, with particular emphasis on explaining creative evolutions in the material, biological, and psycho-social layers. Perspectives from physics, biology, psychology, and philosophy are utilized in the discussion. Process philosophy is used to justify the theoretical foundation of the dynamic universal creativity process. The concepts of unified and final theories are discussed from a position that criticizes reductionism. The concept of the adjacent possible is reviewed as introduced by Kauffman to exclude the possibility that a theory from physics could be extended to explain the biological layer. In a similar way, the adjacent possible is shown to be useful but insufficient to explain the psycho-social layer of complexity, missing fundamental human abilities such as thinking of long-term futures, wisdom, and dynamic creativity leaps that use the impossible as an inspiration

Potential Originality and Effectiveness: The Dynamic Definition of Creativity

Given the central role of creativity in the future post-information society, a call for a pragmatist approach to the study of creativity is advocated, that brings as a consequence the recognition of the dynamic nature of this phenomenon. At the foundation of the proposed new theoretical framework lies the definition of creativity itself, which is turned from static to dynamic through the introduction of the concept of potential originality and effectiveness. Starting from this central definition, and through the introduction of the auxiliary definitions for focus area, creativity goal, creative agent, creative potential of an agent, creative potential of an environment, creative process, product of a creative process, creativity potential of a process, representation of the product of a creative process, and estimator, we arrive at the definitions of creative achievement and creative inconclusiveness. Although both aspects are key in the creative process, creative inconclusiveness was not part of previous definitions, but it is argued that its role is fundamental for effective education in creativity. The new definitions are shown to have full backward compatibility with the extant corpus of scientific research in creativity, as well as forward effectiveness in suggesting novel investigation approaches to support the consideration of new theoretical hypotheses

Intelligence and Creativity: Mapping Constructs on the Space-Time Continuum

This theoretical article proposes a unified framework of analysis for the constructs of intelligence and creativity. General definitions for intelligence and creativity are provided, allowing fair comparisons between the two context-embedded constructs. A novel taxonomy is introduced to classify the contexts in which intelligent and/or creative behavior can be embedded, in terms of the tightness vs. looseness of the relevant conceptual space S and available time T. These two dimensions are used to form what is identified as the space-time continuum, containing four quadrants: tight space and tight time, loose space and tight time, tight space and loose time, loose space and loose time. The intelligence and creativity constructs can be mapped onto the four quadrants and found to overlap more or less, depending on the context characteristics. Measurement methodologies adapted to the four different quadrants are discussed. The article concludes with a discussion about future research directions based on the proposed theoretical framework, in terms of theories and hypotheses on intelligence and creativity, of eminent personalities and personality traits, as well as its consequences for developmental, educational, and professional environments

A control and data plane split approach for partial offloading in mobile fog networks

Fog Computing offers storage and computational capabilities to the edge devices by reducing the traffic at the fronthaul. A fog environment can be seen as composed by two main classes of devices, Fog Nodes (FNs) and Fog-Access Points (F-APs). At the same time, one of the major advances in 5G systems is decoupling the control and the data planes. With this in mind we are here proposing an optimization technique for a mobile environment where the Device to Device (D2D) communications between FNs act as a control plane for aiding the computational offloading traffic operating on the data plane composed by the FN - F-AP links. Interactions in the FNs layer are used for exchanging the information about the status of the F-AP to be exploited for offloading the computation. With this knowledge, we have considered the mobility of FNs and the F-APs' coverage areas to propose a partial offloading approach where the amount of tasks to be offloaded is estimated while the FNs are still within the coverage of their F-APs. Numerical results show that the proposed approaches allow to achieve performance closer to the ideal case, by reducing the data loss and the delay

Creativity in the Advertisement Domain: The Role of Experience on Creative Achievement

The creativity of an advertisement campaign is one of the most relevant predictors of its success. Past research has highlighted the relevance of domain-specific experience in enhancing creativity, but the results are controversial. We explored the role of work experience, in terms of number of years spent in the advertisement domain, in various forms of creativity expressed within this specific working domain. We hypothesized a mediator role of experience in the relationship between the individual\u2019s creative potential, as measured through a series of divergent thinking tasks, and creative achievement in the advertisement domain. Moreover, considering the importance of personality in creative achievement, we also explored the influence of the openness-to-experience on advertisers\u2019 creative achievement. A range of measures assessing creative achievement, openness, and divergent thinking abilities in terms of fluency and originality were administered to a group of professionals in the advertisement domain. The results demonstrate a crucial role for experience in the connection between originality and creative achievement. Moreover, our findings extend previous studies by showing that fluency and openness are significant predictors of creative achievement in the advertisement environment. These results emphasize the importance of canalizing the advertiser\u2019s divergent thinking abilities through appropriate routes provided by working experience, raising important implications for future explorations of domain-specific creative achievement within an individual differences framework. Final indications for future developments are provided, with a special emphasis on the replication of these findings in various work domains and in various cultural contexts

Intelligence and creativity in the space-time continuum for education, business, and development

In this paper, we address the relationship between the intelligence and creativity constructs, by providing equal-level definitions and a parsimonious description of context, allowing the identification of situations in which either one or the other construct prevails, as well as situations in which they overlap and collaborate. The description of context is performed by introducing the metaphor of the space-time continuum, crossing the dimensions of conceptual space S and available time span T, each one varying in continuity from extreme tightness to extreme looseness. The usefulness of the space-time continuum is not limited to the pure comparison between intelligence and creativity, but it can be extended to specific domains. We consider here design of education systems, management styles in business, and development of a creative identity and career. In each case, conceptual space S and available time T take on different and specific nuances, allowing for an in-depth analysis of situations as well as the design of novel approaches. Several paths for future research are highlighted

Computation Offloading Decision Bounds in SWIPT-Based Fog Networks

Computation sharing is one of the most promising services in fog computing allowing the Fog Nodes (FNs) to share among themselves data and tasks to be computed. In case of battery powered-FNs, energy consumption becomes an issue. Simultaneous Wireless Information and Power Transfer (SWIPT) is a recently introduced technology enabling data and power transfer through microwave links among different nodes. In this work, we have considered the presence of a battery powered FN able to simultaneously share data and harvest energy from a Fog Access Point (F-AP), supposed to be plugged to the electrical network. The aim of this work is to define two suitable bounds able to drive the offloading decision to be taken by the battery powered FN, based on the estimated packet generation time, with the aim of having a stable energy system. We have further studied the impact of bandwidth and packet size on the two bounds. Simulation results demonstrate the impact of SWIPT-based offloading decision algorithm on network in terms of latency and network lifetime

smart metering wireless networks at 169 mhz

Intelligent metering systems are being rolled-out on a large-scale worldwide, enabling consumer to make informed choices about consumption patterns and energy saving, while supporting the development of new retail services and products. Unfortunately, the lack of established and shared international standards represents a serious hindrance to be overcome for a complete development of a profitable market. The identification of suitable communication protocols and cost-effective network architectures represent a challenging aspect. In this framework, different network design solutions for wireless smart metering systems at 169 MHz are considered and investigated in this paper, aiming at cost efficient deployment based on extensive re-use of existing infrastructures in urban scenarios, namely, macro-cellular and lighting networks. Coverage assessment and frequency planning issues are addressed, together with an ad hoc measurement campaign carried out to fill the gap in the knowledge of urban propagation in the 169 MHz band. Results show that cost-effective deployment of the intelligent metering network is achievable. Notably, a spatial reuse factor larger than the overall number of available frequency channels might be necessary, thus meaning that the spectral resources shall be also allocated according to a time division scheme, where the hubs are switched off at turn. Anyway, this requirement should not affect the overall reading rate in practical applications. 2017 IEEE

Mobile Edge Computing Partial Offloading Techniques for Mobile Urban Scenarios

Edge Computing refers to a recently introduced approach aiming to bring the storage and computational capabilities of the cloud to the proximity of the edge devices. Edge Computing is one of the main techniques enabling Fog Computing and Networking. Among several application scenarios, the urban scenario seems one of the most attractive for exploiting edge computing approaches. However, in an urban scenario, mobility becomes a challenge to be addressed, affecting the edge computing. By gaining from the the presence of two types of devices, Fog Nodes (FNs) and Fog-Access Points (F-APs), the idea in this paper is that of exploiting Device to Device (D2D) communications between FNs for assisting computation offloading requests between FNs and F-APs by exchanging status information related to the F-APs. With this knowledge, this paper proposes a partial offloading approach where the optimal tasks amount to be offloaded is estimated for minimizing the outage probability due to the mobility of the devices. In order to reduce the outage probability we have further considered a relaying approach among F-APs. Moreover, the impact of the number of tasks that each F-AP can manage is shown in terms of task processing delay. Numerical results show that the proposed approaches allow to achieve performance closer to the lower bound, by reducing the outage probability and the task processing delay

Creative Potential in Science: Conceptual and Measurement Issues

This paper examines the concept of creative potential as it applies in science. First, conceptual issues concerning the definition of creative potential are explored, highlighting that creative potential is a moving target, and measures of creative potential are estimates of future behavior. Then three main ways to detect creative potential are examined. First, a person's previous accomplishments in science can be analyzed. These accomplishments can be regarded as predictors of future creative performance. Second, science talent competitions can help to detect creative potential in children and adolescents. There are particular types of talent competitions differing from each other by the extent of focusing on individual (e.g., Science Fairs) or collaborative (e.g., Science Olympiads) work. Third, to measure an individual's creative potential, psychometric tools such as Creative Scientific Ability Test (C-SAT), Test of Scientific Creativity Animations for Children (TOSCAC), and Evaluation of Potential Creativity (EPoC) can be used. These tools are conceptualized in terms of two scientific activities: hypothesis generation and hypothesis testing. In a final section, these three types of measures are placed in a novel time-space framework as applied to creative potential. Suggestions for future work are also discussed