AI and the Blue Flower

Novalis’s “Blue Flower” symbolizes creativity and the pursuit of meaning, but with AI’s increasing ability to generate art, music, literature, and engage in all types of creative problem-solving, is the pursuit of the Blue Flower becoming obsolete?

The short answer is "No." Here's why:

Margaret Boden: "The most interesting kind of creativity is the one that changes the world, not just in terms of making something new, but in changing the way people think and see the world."

Chagall - The Circus Horse

Margaret Boden categorizes creativity into three types: combinational, exploratory, and transformational. AI covers the first two, but struggles with transformational creativity, which involves breaking entirely new ground. Boden argues that while AI can mimic and even expand on human creativity, it lacks the emotional depth that drives human artists and gives art its deepest meaning.

The take away: AI imitates; humans transform.

Yuval Noah Harari: “Even if AI becomes superintelligent, it will still lack consciousness and subjective experiences. Humans will continue to create art not just for functional purposes but for the sake of the human experience.”

Yuval Noah Harari, in his book 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, argues that while AI can create art, it does not diminish the importance of human creativity. To Harari, the pursuit of creativity, and by extension the “blue flower,” remains crucial because it’s tied to human consciousness, our search for meaning, and our understanding of the world. AI may create art, but it cannot experience the world, suffer, love, or aspire in the way humans do. In other words, the quest for the “blue flower” remains relevant as long as humans seek something beyond the material world—something that AI cannot grasp.

The take away: AI computes, but humans feel.

Byung-Chul Han: "The Scent of Time is the lingering perfume of a life that is becoming increasingly rare: a life that lingers, that refuses to be hurried, and that seeks deeper meaning in a world obsessed with speed and efficiency."

Marc Chagall

In his book The Scent of Time, Han discusses the acceleration of modern life and the commodification of experiences. He argues that technology and the pace of modern life erode the contemplative, slow process of seeking deeper meaning—symbolized by the “blue flower.” Because of AI and constant digital stimulation, the space for deep, meaningful reflection is under threat, and this makes the pursuit of the “blue flower” even more vital as a form of resistance against the flattening of life.

The take away: Speed numbs: meaning lingers

Mark Rothko: "A painting isn't a picture of an experience. It's an experience,"

Rothko - 1949

Rothko's point is that art is not just in the final product but in the experience it generates for both the creator and the observer. AI can create images, music, and text, but it doesn’t experience the world or the emotions that drive human creativity. Thus, the pursuit of meaning, symbolized by the “blue flower,” is linked to the irreplaceable quality of human experience and the unique way humans engage with art.

In sum, the pursuit of the “blue flower" is about the subjective human creative process, something AI, by its very definition as "non-human", can never replicate.

The take away: Art is lived, not generated.

Bottom line:

AI is good at generating content, but it can’t long, wonder, or feel —so the human search for meaning, the Blue Flower, is not obsolete; it’s more necessary than ever.