A New Definition of Creativity

Creative artifacts can be generated by employing A-Life software, but programmers must first consider, explicitly or implicitly, what would count as creative. Most apply standard definitions that incorporate notions of novelty, value and appropriateness. Here we re-assess this approach. Some basic facts about creativity suggest criteria that guide us to a new definition of creativity. We briefly defend our definition against some plausible objections and explore the ways in which this new definition differs and improves upon the alternatives.

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