Quote:
Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward
What Mr. Doctor fails to realize is the the tinker/creative class is a minority of humans. Always have been. The majority doesn't want to think and tinker. And there's more money in their pocket...
That's why there are so few rich creators.....
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Before the advent of devices that could play music for you, playing an instrument/singing together with friends/family was something very widely spread. It doesn't matter however badly it was done, or if people kept playing the same musics and song over and over again: it was creation on a very personal level.
It's only our modern society that has fostered the idea that professionally produced material is the only kind that is worth any sort of attention.
Fortunately, the advent of the internet has broken that mold. Take a look around, see what kind of stories, webcomics and so on exists, you'll be surprised. People want to create. Many, for whatever reason, will not have the drive to keep at it, or even to begin - creating is hard work. But if the environment you provide fosters such behavior, you'll see more and more people attempting to make something, just for the heck of it, for creating something is
very rewarding.
Fundamentaly, Doctorow's critic is that a device such as the ipad is one step further toward making people into passive consumers: you are not supposed to create anything with it, you're just supposed to use it to buy, again and again (newspaper subscription, books, comics, movies, you name it). As is, you mostly can't
make anything with it. It says something very interesting about Apple when Microsoft, of all companies, has a project with which (if it is ever released) is more geared toward
you creating something with what you get out of the box.