We are not self-made. We are dependent on one another. Admitting this to ourselves isn't an embrace of mediocrity and derivativeness, it's a liberation from our misconceptions.

Ferguson’s statement challenges the romantic ideal of the solitary genius by insisting that creativity and achievement are inherently social and cumulative. To say we are “not self-made” is to recognize that our skills, ideas, and opportunities are built from education, predecessors’ work, collaborators, and cultural inheritance. The quote reframes dependence not as weakness or “derivativeness,” but as an honest account of how innovation actually happens—through borrowing, remixing, and incremental improvement. The “liberation” he describes is psychological and ethical: it frees individuals from the pressure to be wholly original and encourages gratitude, humility, and a more realistic understanding of authorship and success.