the priesthood
In an Apple technical forum there is a discussion about the new iPhone's camera and their software implementation of bokeh. About a third of the participants berate the fact that it is a lie, a tiny phone camera lens cannot take in as much light as a proper camera's, you have so much less control, etc. All things that are true, but on the other hand.. tools like that put the possibility of playing with pictures and being creative in the hands of people who wouldn't have considered getting into 'real' photography with an SLR camera and lenses. Also, my phone is not going to replace my camera any time soon but it does give you the opportunity of catching a fleeting moment which you would in all probability have lost while fumbling for a camera and its settings. A bit like music making apps enable people to make music -most of it will be terrible, of course, but some will not. And it is a good thing that people are enabled to do creative things, instead of a few inner circle priests (says, alas, the classical musician who also despairs at people who want to make music not knowing and not wanting to know how it works).