Creativity takes many forms. Software design can be a creative medium. This is a site where I post about my creative projects.

Some people make music, and some design guitars. The musician may consider some guitar creators to be artists. Tool-making can be a form of creativity, and it is a unique and powerful one.

By creating a tool, you introduce a catalyst. In chemistry, a catalyst speeds up a chemical reaction and increases the effectiveness of a reagent, often by orders of magnitude. They’re sometimes cheap and easy to use.

The other definition of “catalyst” applies to society: flash-points that precede change. The introduction of a tool can be a catalyst, such as the invention of the printing press.

Inventing tools means operating on the activity of others. The medium of creativity is other people and what they do. In this way, it is activism.

I’m interested in focusing on software as a creative medium, and I think it’s worth talking about this topic. My dad always said, “there’s nothing like the right tool for the job.” There is quite a difference between tuning a bike with tools and without.

What tools have not yet been created? What activity could use a catalyst? What tools should not be created? These questions are worth considering. We’re at a consequential point in history, and software is shaping much of what is happening.