Mr Mitchell's conviction was upheld this year, but his lawyer Robert Epstein, another doubter of the value of fingerprints, is still trying to have it overturned.

ECONOMIST: Fingering fingerprints

But on a more creative and mindful level, improvisation has "value, " says creativity expert Robert Epstein, a former editor of Psychology Today and founder of the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies.

CNN: Roboticist sees improvisation through machine's eyes

An early example is the sugarscape simulation done in 1995 by Joshua Epstein and Robert Axtell, of the Brookings Institution.

ECONOMIST: Evolutionary economics is surviving, but not thriving