7 Combinational Creativity

Combinational creativity constructs a new relation among existing objects, concepts, skills, or theories. Its central difficulty is not producing pairs. It is finding an interface through which the parts can interact without losing their types, and then showing that the resulting composite does something that neither part did alone. Boden’s category is therefore best understood as a problem of typed composition, not as unconstrained association [ Boden , 1998 , 2004 ] .

This is the first chapter in a three-part analysis of Boden’s modes. Its distinctive artifact is an admitted interface and composite. The next chapter holds the generative language fixed and studies paths through it; the third asks when the language itself must change. Keeping those artifacts separate prevents every unfamiliar output from being called transformational.

. A creative combination should expose four things: its ingredients, the interface that connects them, the obligations preserved by the connection, and a consequence that is not merely a restatement of either ingredient.

Here “new interface” does not automatically mean “new theory.” An interface already expressible as a term, model element, or diagram enlarges the retained repertoire while the language remains fixed. Changing the doctrine, observer, semantic universe, operation, or admission interface begins a candidate package transformation. If that proposal adds or changes a sort, generator, equation, or other presentation component, it is a candidate theory extension. Independent tests of transport and new consequences govern admission.