Is the Value in the Idea or the Implementation?

(or Do you believe in God?)

For the past few weeks I have been involved in a dialogue of sorts on the TEDtalks LinkedIn Group about whether the value of an idea is in the idea itself or rather in the implementation.

This led to a pithy, but profound exchange between myself and Wan Chi Lau. To spare you the details of the other parts of the conversation, I have excerpted just the relevant threads of the conversation. Thanks, Wan for the permission to reprint your comments.

Ed	Without an idea, you have nothing to implement.
Wan	Actually I would disagree...the evidence is all around us. The entire Universe is one big implementation without any "idea." We are of the Nike mantra...."Just Do It."
Ed	Only if you are an atheist. I am not.
Wan	Well, clearly I am :-)

This brief exchange is the whole essence of the argument and I am curious to know if the following hypothesis is true: If you believe the value is in the idea, then you are likely to be theistic; if you believe the value is in the implementation of the idea, then you are likely to be atheistic.

Ron has written extensively about this in these two posts:

• Chief Learning Officer Magazine Intellectual Capital Article Cites Ron Baker
• Ideas Are More Valuable Than Their Execution, Part II

Thoughts?