For Scientific American's Science Quickly, I'm Rachel Feltman.

When it comes to art and creativity, humanity is in kind of a weird place at the moment.

Just look at what's playing at your local movie theater.

It feels like studios are determined to wring the life out of existing IP with franchises, reboots, adaptations, and live-action remakes galore.

Meanwhile, the success of films like Obsession, which is the low-budget work of a novice filmmaker that's now one of the most profitable films of all time, suggests that this might be making audiences even more ravenous for stories that feel fresh and unique.

But the advent of generative AI, which trains on existing art to produce "new" work, I hope you heard my air quotes, means we could soon be wading through more derivative slop than ever before.

Our guest today looked at that modern creativity crisis and got inspired.

Moiya McTier is an astrophysicist, folklorist, and the author of Mothers of Invention, a new book that tells the story of human ingenuity throughout history.

Thank you so much for coming on to chat with us today.

Thanks, Rachel.