Mere Generation: Essential Barometer or Dated Concept?

The computational creativity community (rightfully) takes a dim view of supposedly creative systems that operate by mere generation. However, what exactly this means has never been adequately defined, and therefore the idea of requiring systems to exceed this standard is problematic. Here, we revisit the question of mere generation and attempt to qualitatively identify what constitutes exceeding this threshold. This exercise leads to the conclusion that the question is likely no longer relevant for the field and that a failure to recognize this is likely detrimental to its future health.