On the Future of Computers and Creativity Jon McCormack 1 and Mark d’Inverno 2 Abstract. In this paper we introduce and reflect on current research questions regarding computers and creativity. Creativity is an enig- matic yet widely discussed phenomena. With the now widespread adoption of computers and information technologies, the nature of creativity and how we think about it has changed significantly. We argue for a shift in thinking about computers from tools to creative agents and collaborative partners. We present 21 questions we think are crucial to understanding this new relationship and begin to offer answers, or pathways to answers for a selective subset. 1 Introduction It is almost impossible now not to hear of some new discourse, ac- tivity or emerging project that links computers with creativity. Either through re-thinking the way that computing is taught in Schools and Universities as a creative and practice-based subject, or through cre- ating novel kinds of computer systems than can enhance our own cre- ativity, or through the development of innovative software or robotics that can produce works that – if they were produced by a human – would be described as art (such as a painting, a poem, or a piece of music for example). For many years we have both been involved in research trying to understand how computing and creativity are con- nected. Furthermore, we are both active creative practitioners as a professional artist and musician respectively, often investigating how we can use technology to enhance our own creative practice and per- formance. As a result of editing the book “Computers and Creativity” [36] over the course of three years, we posed 21 questions that we believe are central to research linking computers and creativity, and which map out areas of investigation we believe will be the focus of atten- tion in the coming years and decades. In this paper we repose these questions, updating them and offer answers or at least outline promis- ing research that makes progress towards answering some of them – something we did not do in the book. By doing so we hope to pro- vide an introduction to the issues, themes and research areas that are emerging when embarking on any activity attempting to understand or exploit relationships between computing and creativity. Before reviewing the questions and proposing some responses to them in detail, we first provide some context and background to the emerging impact of computers on creativity and society. 2 The Creative Computing Landscape Computing has rapidly grown from its origins as a selectively fo- cused, highly specialised technical discipline and profession to one 1 Centre for Electronic Media Art, Faculty of Information Technol- ogy, Monash University, Caulfield East, VIC 3145, Australia, email: Jon.McCormack@monash.edu 2 Department of Computing, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK, email: dinverno@gold.ac.uk of the most important drivers of modern economies and cultures. Net- worked computer technologies have facilitated seismic changes to in- dustry, government, education, business, culture, science and society. At least in the developed world, we find ourselves deeply engaged in activities that are completely reliant on technology and which impact on almost every aspect of contemporary living. Computers have become an extension of ourselves [13], mediating how we communicate and think, even changing the way in which we think. They control a complex network of dependencies between us, and are constantly and rapidly developing, ever expanding in their potential to become dynamic cultural and creative partners for us all. While schools are increasingly using technology in education, ironically a 2010 ACM study [53] found that secondary (K-12) US education in computer science had fallen dramatically, with advanced placement courses declining by 35% over the years 2005 to 2009. The report also suggested educators confused the use of technology and teaching of technology literacy with computer science education as a core discipline. Similarly, in September 2011, Google chairman Eric Schmidt criticised UK education, claiming: “Your IT curricu- lum focuses on teaching how to use software, but gives no insight into how it is made. That is just throwing away your great comput- ing heritage.” Fortunately this helped in changing the way in which the computing-related syllabus will now be taught in schools in the UK, but there is still a long way to go before we think about teaching programming in the same way we would teach music, art, design or poetry. Schmidt is not alone in his concern about a lack of basic pro- gramming literacy. Douglas Rushkoff’s book “Program or Be Pro- grammed” prophetically argues that “In the emerging, highly pro- grammed landscape ahead, you will either create the software or you will be the software.” [48] The concept of unknown technological forces watching us, analysing us, categorising us and predicting us is increasingly written about in social sciences and often adds to a general malaise for ever wanting to know the full extent and the un- derlying agency behind much of the software widely in use. Why does this stark disparity exist between computing’s astonish- ing impact and our cultural desirability to see it as a creative dis- cipline or even our ability to recognise the computer as a genuine creative partner? Our claim – a view of course which is shared by many though seldom achieved in practice – is that Art and Science need to be brought back together if we are to better appreciate and engage with the challenges and opportunities this new dependence on technology brings. Creativity is critical for our ability to develop as a society, yet the mainstream practice of computing has not formally situated itself around the exploration of creativity and creative ideas. Rather it has been approached from a scientific and engineering perspective that aims to represent aspects of the world as data, and then has the task of manipulating that data in order to solve problems or gain under-