BMB Geek Club

a formula for creativity

http://www.newyorker.com/festival/videos/fevi_video5a

An interesting talk from Malcolm Gladwell who wrote The Tipping Point and Blink.

It's quite long but worth it. (there are links to shorter cuts at the bottom if you get bored) Basically, some people have done research that simplifies music and even films into mathematical formulae that can then be categorised to establish whether or not they will be a hit and they can predict this with 80% accuracy.

interesting Q&A at the end on whether or not this is a good thing

Wrighty

neuroscience of novelty

the surprised brain  a great post on neuroscience. we are pattern recognisers all.  That's why novelty jars and surprises.  It is an event out of predicted sequence.  When things happen that our brain didn't expect, our hippocampus does a backflip. We don't react directly to the novelty but to the discrepancy from our expectation.  Which also explains what comics call the 'rule of three'.  Originality is a precious thing in advertising. But perversely  it is predicated on  deviation from  the expected. 

wikipedia: rule of three