Why do radical constraints often catalyse creativity?

· Bits and Bobs 6/30/25
  • Why do radical constraints often catalyse creativity?
    • Imagine outcomes randomly jiggling through the possibility space.
    • An outcome by itself tends to evaporate.
    • Outcomes that pile on and accumulate can grow into stable structure.
    • As the coherent pile gets larger and has more surface area, there's more likelihood a random outcome touches it and coheres, which gives compounding momentum.
    • This is a metaphor for finding consensus and other emergent phenomena.
    • The more degrees of freedom in the possibility space, the less likely the outcomes randomly cohere.
    • Constraints reduce the degrees of freedom, making it more likely ideas cohere and build.

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