Years ago, before there were power tools, all furniture was crafted by hand. Painstakingly. It would take a craftsman years to develop his craft. Eventually though, power tools lifted a lot of the learning curve. It became easier and faster to create furniture. Eventually a lot of those power tools were replaced with automated CNC machines. With these machines you can pretty much throw anyone from the street who can read on the machine. Productivity has increased so much that you can pretty much buy furniture these days for not that much more than the cost of materials alone! It really is an incredible statement.

Now not to take the metaphor to far. I realize you can't turn science into an industrial process... it is a creative process as much as anything. The main point is that as you lower the learning curve, you enable a few more people to gain the new skills required.

Again, i'm not suggesting this was ACTUALLY the point which motivated him to come up with the concept. But to me, this is the really cool potential outcome.