I'll concede the quote is well formulated, but the point is hardly original... It took me five seconds to find a Ionesco quote that says something very similar:
“It is not the answer that enlightens, but the question.”
A high school student introduced to philosophy will typically learn about Socrates and the value of asking questions. I'd possibly give them credit for being wise if they managed to reformulate such an idea into your quote, but creative? Not so sure.
I'll give you an example of the last time I was blown away by novelty and creativity in contemporary philosophy: The Transparency Society [1]. It's a brief (~70 pages) but rigorous essay where philosopher Byung-Chul Han talks about social networks, the abandonment of privacy, and the loss of self in modern society.
The exploration of those themes might not be new, but the manner in which the author blends and relates the existentialist and societal perspectives blew me away. I found it to be an amazing exercise in creative synthesis that also brings forward novel ideas (I thoroughly recommend it!)
Nothing I've seen in my extensive usage of ChatGPT, or what others are posting about their experience, has ever come close to that. I don't even see it trending in that direction.
But again, I'm not categorically denying that it's not creative. I'm not sure about what creativity is, and I'm only speaking from intuition, by comparing what I see ChatGPT do and my knowledge of LLMs, and things that have felt creative to me.
“It is not the answer that enlightens, but the question.”
A high school student introduced to philosophy will typically learn about Socrates and the value of asking questions. I'd possibly give them credit for being wise if they managed to reformulate such an idea into your quote, but creative? Not so sure.
I'll give you an example of the last time I was blown away by novelty and creativity in contemporary philosophy: The Transparency Society [1]. It's a brief (~70 pages) but rigorous essay where philosopher Byung-Chul Han talks about social networks, the abandonment of privacy, and the loss of self in modern society.
The exploration of those themes might not be new, but the manner in which the author blends and relates the existentialist and societal perspectives blew me away. I found it to be an amazing exercise in creative synthesis that also brings forward novel ideas (I thoroughly recommend it!)
Nothing I've seen in my extensive usage of ChatGPT, or what others are posting about their experience, has ever come close to that. I don't even see it trending in that direction.
But again, I'm not categorically denying that it's not creative. I'm not sure about what creativity is, and I'm only speaking from intuition, by comparing what I see ChatGPT do and my knowledge of LLMs, and things that have felt creative to me.
[1] https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=25832