8/2/2019 Nakamatsu Paper - Final

1/2

What is a creative person? From Leonardo da Vinci of the Renaissance to Steve Jobs in

modern times, there has been an elite group of individuals who are widely regarded as being

creative individuals. These individuals seem to have something that the majority of people do

not. These individuals often leave a mark in whatever field they work in. Because of their

excellence in their fields and their contributions, these individuals are often regarded with high

esteem.

But what makes someone creative? According to Runco, everyone has the potential to

become creative but it is the results that separate those who are considered creative by society

from the rest of the population (Sternberg 21-22). While everyone is capable of novel ideas, the

implementation of these ideas in a successful way creates the delineation between geniuses such

as Albert Einstein from normal people.

Inventor Dr. Yorishiro Nakamatsu can be considered another one of these genius types.

Born June 28, 1928, Dr. Nakamatsu currently has more than 3357 patents under his name

compared to Thomas Edisons thousand. Among the three thousand patents, Dr. Nakamatsu

claims to have helped invent the floppy disk for IBM, revolutionizing the technological world at

that time. He also Dr. Nakamatsus documentation on his daily diet also won him the 2005 Ig

Nobel Prize. In addition, he had also received the U.S. presidential award and the first place

award at the American Innovation Grand Prix (Shroder). Finally, like most prodigious inventors

that precede him, Dr. Nakamatsus behavior is nothing short of eccentric. In order to increase his

creative potential, Dr. Nakamatsu purposely deprives himself of oxygen and uses the bodys

response to oxygen deprivation to facilitate creative output in inventing. The patented Dr.

NakaMats underwater invention method drives him to come as close to death as possible. Dr.

Nakamatsu claims his ideas come 0.5 seconds before death (Shroder).

8/2/2019 Nakamatsu Paper - Final

2/2

The method is both uniquely creative by its own accord and also successful. Studies from

Wespi in 1934 compared the responses of test subjects both under normal conditions and under

oxygen deprivation using the Kent-Rosanoff lists, which records the subjects first response

word to a set of 100 stimulus-words. Wespi found that under low oxygen levels, test subjects

were more likely to give words more unique words in response to the stimulus-words. In

addition, the test subjects had higher levels of external associations, or enhanced perception of

their surroundings (Bentley 79-80). This can be related to Sawyers claim that creative

individuals have a better perception of their surroundings because they are less likely to repress

the unhappy memories or displeasing senses from their mind (46).