What separates us from chimps ...

How many of us CREATE algorithms? Most of us have learnt how to FOLLOW algorithms ... in the lab - we follow the procedure, to make our own website - we go and follow a tutorial, to write a program - we follow the alogrithm, in fact, we can collect reams of knowledge and follow the algorithms within to create things which may seem new, but which in fact are nothing but a recreation of someone else's ideas.

Which makes those that create algorithms really special. People like Djikstra and Knuth and others. This does not mean we should not study algorithms, rather, we should study them as foundations for creating our own.

Which is again why the open source movement is important. Here, people are recognised for their work, not companies. Algorithms are recognised, not products. Take the GNU/Linux system for example. All the credits are in the right place ... you want to know who implemented what part in the kernel, go have a look at the sources. How I pity those at Microsoft ... even though someone might have done something really important in the OS, no one will ever know.