The Creativity Age?

Just back from CHI in Montreal (great city, so-so conference) I noticed how many people on the airplane were reading the Da Vinci Code. On both sides of the aisle I saw fellow-passengers with copies, and a third with another Dan Brown book. As if this was not bad enough, the O’Hare bookstore in which I wiled away a few minutes had more books on gospel secrets, hidden meanings and symbols than you could shake an author’s advance at. The worst yet has to be a new book on losing weight by using the secrets of Da Vinci and the golden ratio. Now, I will not put a link in here – the book will get enough publicity without me but this has to take the prize for the most crass exploitation yet (and as soon as I write this I just know there will be worse to come). Warner, in announcing the new series, said the book is sure “to pique the interest of Da Vinci enthusiasts and weight-loss seekers alike.” Imagine!

Now I’ve read the Da Vinci Code (yes, I am annoyed with myself but I couldn’t help it) and as far as I can tell, the only secret to losing weight it contained was to have yourself chased around Europe by a self-flagellating member of a murderous religious order – that ought to do it. Who needs a book? But the real point here is that I have heard people referring to our latest epoch as the Creativity Age (information being so last year). Well, I suppose if we consider technology to have enabled rapid repurposing and repackaging of one basic idea then it’s true –but if you quaintly thought creativity implied something ‘new’ emerging then I guess we’re still in the information age for now. Phew…..