Between Order and Chaos: The Power of Transformative Improvisation
DALL-E 3, ChatGPT 4o, Prompt
We’ve all heard the phrases, right? “Think outside the box, but not too far,” or “To be creative, you have to be a little crazy.” These ideas are nice but leave plenty unexplored. Let’s dig deeper.
The Spectrum of Human Action: From Order to Chaos
Human life exists on a broad spectrum. On one end, we find order—predictable, structured, and mechanical behaviors. Think of factories, military strategy, or computer programming. On the opposite end lies chaos—randomness, unpredictability, and sometimes madness. Picture children playing freely, extreme mental states, or the wild, anything-goes atmosphere of Burning Man.
Most of us, though, live somewhere in between these extremes, with our behavior moving dynamically across this spectrum depending on the situation. And the force that drives this movement? Creativity.
Creativity is what pushes us away from pure mechanical behavior toward something new and unusual, creating something fresh in the process—the spark of “wow.” That new thing then settles in, becomes part of the “new normal,” and eventually becomes routine. This cycle, this dance between order and chaos, happens everywhere, all the time. Even now, it’s happening to you.
A Real-World Example of Improvisation
Imagine this: it’s Monday morning, and you’re half-asleep, on the bus to work. You nod to the driver, walk to your usual seat…and find someone else is sitting in it. After three years, someone has dared to sit in your seat. You weren’t prepared for this, and it throws you off. You look around, a bit bewildered, and eventually settle into a new seat across the aisle.
In this moment, you just practiced the core of creativity: improvisation. Improvisation is more than just “making it up as you go”—it’s about thinking on the spot and adapting to the unexpected.
The Association Game
Let’s use a simple association game to understand this better. Imagine a group of people taking turns saying the first word that comes to mind.
At the purely mechanical end:
Person 1: “A”
Person 2: “B”
Person 3: “C”
There’s no improvisation here; it’s just a set pattern, predictable down to Person 10 saying “J.”
At the chaotic end:
Person 1: “CAR”
Person 2: “LINOLEUM”
Person 3: “JOHN F. KENNEDY”
This is random, disconnected, and chaotic. No patterns or themes hold it together.
Then, in the middle ground, we have framed improvisation:
Person 1: “OPEL”
Person 2: “VOLVO”
Person 3: “ASTON MARTIN”
Now, we’re seeing a theme—“names of cars.” We can’t predict the exact word each person will choose, but we can follow the pattern. This is you, finding another seat. It’s a guitarist riffing on a blues chord. It’s Apple shifting from squared-edged phones to rounded ones. Framed improvisation is creative, but it stays within certain bounds. It’s fresh, but still predictable.
But to create something genuinely new—the “wow”—we need to go beyond framed improvisation.
Transformative Improvisation: Making the Leap
Now, let’s take a closer look at this association round::
Person 1: “OPEL”
Person 2: “VOLVO”
Person 3: “FERRARI”
Person 4: “ITALY”
Person 5: “SPAIN”
Did you catch the shift? The theme moved from “names of cars” to “countries.” This wasn’t random—Ferrari is famously Italian, and we see a natural connection that steers the conversation into a new, unexpected theme. It’s not just new words; it’s a new idea. It’s as close to ‘original’ that the pattern seeking human mind comes. It’s a “wow!” This is the essence of transformative improvisation. It’s Chuck Berry transforming blues into rock ‘n’ roll. It’s Steve Jobs combining a computer and a phone into the iPhone. It’s the creation of the steam engine.
This is where we find the Goldilocks zone: “outside the box, but not too far.” The spectrum now looks like this:
Mechanical - Framed Improvisation - Transformative Improvisation - Chaos
Transformative improvisation happens through exploration and adaptation. Though this example may seem constructed, it lies at the core of creative behavior. Any creative endeavor spans between framed and transformative improvisation. The key is the connection between actions—the "red thread." But how do we establish this?
At the mechanical end, we can predict the next steps. At the random end, there is no right or wrong action. But how do we determine that the leap from Ferrari to Italy is creative rather than random?
The answer lies in meaning. Actions follow the red thread if they produce or transform meaning. Ferrari is an Italian car, so the move to Italy is meaningful, and transforming the association from cars to countries also holds meaning. If there was no meaning, it would simply be randomness. This is how improvisation generates new possibilities.
How do we know if an action produces meaning? If it resonates with the participants, it is meaningful; if it doesn’t, it is random. Improvisation is inherently relative. How meaning is actually perceived in the individual is related to the realm of semiotics, which is too deep for this post, but I will return to it in a later post. Practically, a group member performs an action—a word, a gesture, or another sign. If it has meaning to others, they mimic it. This repetition leads to either validation or discarding, and eventually, the action becomes part of the group’s behavior. This scales to the greatest of systems and structures.
This process can be summarized as:
Prototyping -> Mimicking -> Discarding or Assimilation -> Validation -> Normalization.
Here are three examples:
The iPhone is introduced (prototyping). Everyone starts buying it (mimicking). People keep using it, finding value in it, (validation) and it eventually integrates into everyday life. Other structures rely on it, and soon, everyone has one. The iPhone becomes the “new normal.” (normalization)
Chuck Berry ups the tempo, shifts to seconds and fourths, (prototyping). Little Richard, Bo Diddley, and Elvis does the same (mimicking) Crowds go wild, records fly off shelves (validation) , and eventually, rock ‘n’ roll is mainstream (Normalization)
Revolution erupts in France in 1848 (prototyping). Other european nations revolt in the coming years (mimicking). The new democratic societes are - precieved to be - stable and sucessfull (validation). Liberal democratic nations states become the general norm (normalization).
And there you have it, in a nutshell. The magic creative space between order and chaos is improvisation—framed and transformative—and it’s how people, structures, systems, thoughts, and beliefs move from normal to new to normal.
Now there is, obviusly, a whole lot more to this. Fear not; I’ll be back with more in future posts.
Until then, eat chocolate and make stuff!
—Lars