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No Bad Ideas? | Throughline

Posted

July 13, 2023

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Humans have always created. But historian Samuel W. Franklin argues that "creativity" didn't become a social value until the Cold War. Today, we're at another inflection point for humanity, technology, and national identity. The meaning of originality is blurring; there are legal disputes about what constitutes original art; and AI can write a song like your favorite artist in seconds. So what does it mean to put creativity on a pedestal? And what would it look like to tear it down?

On this episode, we talk with Franklin, author of "The Cult of Creativity: A Surprisingly Recent History," about original thinking, AI, and how the human drive to create gets branded, packaged, and sold.

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Samuel W FranklinCold War TodayThe CultWHAT IS THROUGHLINE TheNPR Music Tiny DeskJazz NightThe NPRGetty Images

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