Are wealth creators creative people in the same way as artists or writers?

When I was writing this series of essays on creativity I read the novel “Trust” by Hernan Diaz. It’s set in 1920’s New York and it’s all about creating wealth. I’ve been thinking about all kinds of creativity for these essays but I just realised that creating wealth wasn’t on my list.

Do other creative people think that wealth creators are in the same category or are they different? Is producing money the same as producing art or music or food or fashion?
The book is really about relationships and the creation of wealth is the device used to illustrate very human frailties. I won’t spoil the story here but highly recommend it as an ingenious construction and beautifully written. The last part is magnificent. Here’s a really good review that explains more:https://www.bookpage.com/reviews/trust-book-review/

The characters in the book undoubtedly created massive amounts of wealth but I’m still wondering — do we really think of them as creatives? Have we perhaps demonised them because of how they create rather than what?

I’m having lots of conversations about how tech is putting more and more wealth into the hands of fewer and fewer people. If AI is using other people’s creativity and in the process putting people out of a job, do the beneficiaries have an obligation to share their wealth with the original creators and other members of society?

I’d love to know what you think!

This is part of a series of posts on Questions about Creativity. The rest of the series can be seen at: https://annhawkins.com/creativity