[ambyra]

It’s not memorizing, it’s actually knowing and understanding the utility of different concepts. When you learn of a problem in a new field, you go through your bucket of tools and modify one to fit the new problem.

[RRWagner]

Exactly. And "synthesis" is the better word than "creativity". I wrote an essay about this very topic some years ago: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tbMTpkPWkkN8_KH2KSpteFsb.... (if you can't open Google docs, an older draft is here: https://rogerwagner.com/creativity.html)

[shw1n]

Interesting -- hadn't heard of this synthesis vs creativity take before

I could see that -- agreed that "creativity" can be too blunt of a word to use for all situations

[shw1n]

Thanks for reading!

Isn't learning which tools in the bucket fits the a problem best just memorizing a heuristic?

That's the point I'm attempting to make, that it's not blind memorization without context, but still memorization of a heuristic at its core

[stoperaticless]

Probably you would have had more agreement, if you would have used a different word (though I’m not able to suggest that different word that captures the meaning I think you intended)

[suzzer99]

For me anyway, it's getting so familiar with something that your mind wanders and considers other possibilities.