The article makes too black and white a distinction between tinkering and creativity. The author is also very focused on the concept of an idea being fundamentally new in order for it be a creative action. I'm not certain that you can so easily distinguish between a new idea and a variation on an old idea.

As example, was the development of a cell phone a new idea? I believe the idea of combining a radio, a simple computer, and a battery into a portable device intended to connect to the existing telephone network is not particularly creative, but an extraordinarily useful variation on existing ideas. A variation that has had sufficient impact that we tend to think of it as a new idea. If one goes back to the development of each of the pieces, I believe one can paint a similar picture for each of the priors. Even if one goes back as far as basic technology like fire, spears, agriculture or the wheel I think similar stories could be told.

The point of this is not that there are no new ideas under the sun, but that tinkering is the process of experimenting, and I don't particularly believe that it is possible to create a new idea (under whatever definition of new) without experimenting or tinkering with the priors.