They wouldn't exist

I read a column by Robert W. Lucky in IEEE Spectrum, Are Social Technologies Really Invented? Very good column altogether but there was just one sentence that made me think and why I write this blog entry now:
"If Beethoven hadn't written his symphonies, they wouldn't exist."

Indeed. But, of course,  it's not true for just Beethoven's symphonies. It's true to virtually everything. Especially for those who create something, like, as an example, science fiction stories. Like me.

My stories wouldn't exist if I hadn't written them. Would it matter? Would it matter if Beethoven hadn't written his symphonies? I say it wouldn't matter because if something doesn't exist, we wouldn't know it and we couldn't miss it.

But does it matter now when I have written my stories. Does it matter if Beethoven's symphonies cease to exist? Does it matter whether or not I continue to write stories? I say it does matter. And this is true for all writers, musicians, artists and all who create something. I, and we, create something that come from within us. Something that will not exist if we don't create it. Our creations are unique. Our creations' value can not be measured.

In the end, it doesn't matter whether or not our creation is the next Beethoven's symphony. It is always unique. And that's something to think about.