[solistice]

You can only cherish what you know. And knowing something takes effort, and even more effort the more obscure (as in hidden) the thing is. Now obscurity doesn't mean the thing is less important. A watches clockwork is obscured by it's face and it's hands, but without a clockwork, the watch would be useless.

But far more people will see the watch face than the clockwork (some watches expose it partially to show craftsmanship, but we hide it as well as we can). It's not that people wouldn't cherish the work of these men if they knew it ("Oh, Engelbart, he's the reason you see clickable pictures on your screen instead of a flashing cursor" "That's pretty cool, never heard of the guy before"), but they simply don't know them.

Really, if we want these men to be appreciated for their impact, it's us that have to go out and spread the word, because we're the only ones knowing that impact. If we're not ready for spreading that awareness (I don't think it's easy to do), then appreciation of the clockwork by watchmakers is what we'll have to be satisfied with.