Podcast 085
Spolsky: edit me!
Atwood: edit me!
[32:00]Atwood: I think the whole of human history has been a recording of people doing amazing things with just average tools. ... Not that you shouldn't have nice tools, but to the extent that we focus on "oh, I gotta have a really nice pen or I can't write the next Great American Novel..."
Spolsky: heh heh
Atwood: ...I really hate that. That just really, really bothers me.
Spolsky: That is just you stalling from writing your Great American Novel because you can't think of something great to say.
Atwood: Now, if you're a great writer and you insist on using great tools I totally respect that. But most people aren't, and I think that they tend to substitute one with the other--the nice tool with the ability to create stuff. We want to focus on the ability to create stuff, and you do that by getting an average Bic pen in the hands of as many schoolchildren as possible. That's how you accomplish that goal in the big scheme of things. Because a certain percentage of those kids will be brilliant writers and they'll get unlocked. They'll unlock that ability.
[32:45]
Spolsky: edit me!
Atwood: edit me!
