Creativity and collaboration: Revisiting cybernetic serendipity

> The Sackler Colloquium “Creativity and Collaboration: Revisiting Cybernetic Serendipity” was held at the building of the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, DC on March 13–14, 2018 (www.nasonline.org/Cybernetic_Serendipity). This Sackler Colloquium celebrated the 50th anniversary of the famed art exhibit “Cybernetic Serendipity” by reconsidering how disciplinary partnerships could more reliably produce breakthrough discoveries and powerful innovation (Fig. 1). The organizer’s ambition was to redirect the history of ideas, restoring the Leonardo-like close linkage between art/design and science/engineering through widespread use of internet-enabled creativity and collaboration. > > > > Fig. 1. > Poster announcement for National Academy of Sciences’ Sackler Colloquium on “Creativity and Collaboration: Revisiting Cybernetic Serendipity.” > > Abraham Lincoln founded the US National Academy of Sciences in 1863 by way of an Act of Congress. The National Academy of Sciences Congressional Charter stipulated a nongovernmental advisory organization of scholars whose role was to “investigate, examine, experiment, and report upon any subject of science or art.” That charter, which combined “science and art” came at a time in which those disciplines were seen as closely related, maybe still infused with the spirit of Renaissance thinkers, such as Leonardo da Vinci, whose brilliant integration of art, design, science, and engineering produced astonishing breakthroughs and bold creations that have endured for 500 y. Leonardo’s training as an artist enabled him to make more accurate medical drawings, see the movement of bird wings, understand the dynamics of flowing water, and much more. Leonardo’s integrative style inspired 19th century scientists, engineers, designers, and artists, such as Charles Darwin, Louis Pasteur, James Audubon, Ada Lovelace, Samuel Morse, and others who gracefully wove together these diverse disciplines. However, during the 20th century the pressures for specialization and the emphasis on rational thinking methods pulled the sciences away from the arts. This split led to C. P. Snow’s controversial essay that portrayed the gulf … [↵][1]1Email: ben{at}cs.umd.edu. [1]: #xref-corresp-1-1