Author: [[Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi]] **Main ideas** - There are certain conditions that facilitate flow key conditions in an activity that can facilitate entering a state of flow: ^374aa2 - Having clear goals - Providing immediate feedback - Providing a opportunity and capacity. Too hard an it causes stress, too easy and it causes boredom. [[flow]] is a state of maximal involvement with an activity. I am mostly interested in flow in relation to creative activities, and in particular in relation to [[human-AI creative collaboration]]. That is how Al can support an activity so the person can achieve a state of flow. Csikzsentmihalyi identifies flow as a state of organised psychic energy, low psychic entropy, high complexity or high organisation of the self. Arguably, the highest creative achievement happens in a flow state. Csikzsentmihalyi identifies several conditions for in getting a flow state. First, the person has to be belief i they can complete the task. Second, they must be able to concentrate in whet they are doing. Third, there should be clear goals. Fourth, it should provide immediate feed back. Fifth, there should be a deep but effortless involvement that removes awareness of external worries. Sixth, there should be a sense of control over ones actions. Seventh, awareness of the self disappears. Eight, there is distorted perception of time. One can induce a state of flow by: Providing a clear goal for the activity. Providing rules or creative constraints. Providing short feedback loops. Balancing skill versus challenge. If the activity is to challenging for the skill level, it is frustrating. If it is too easy it is boring. The optimal point is flow. A few ideas that stemmed out from this book [[We can design AI co-creative systems to facilitate flow]] [[Conditions of flow]]