Sunday, March 26, 2017

Was Steve Jobs a hero?

I enjoyed watching the Steve Jobs movie, based on a screenplay by Aaron Sorkin [to me famous for West Wing]. It has the creativity and intense dialogue that one expects from Sorkin


I have a few minor comments.

I never quite understand people who go on about how Jobs "changed people's lives" and "transformed the world" and is a hero like Gandhi, Einstein, Gutenberg, Edison, ...
To me, he was one of several key players in the computer revolution.
The movie shows how Jobs had a cult-like status and people were just "dying" to attend his latest product launch.
I agree his creativity and achievements were significant. I love my Mac and much prefer it to a Windows PC. But I just don't feel this gives my life more meaning, purpose, or enrichment.

Given the way he poorly treated many work colleagues, should he be respected? A key issue is whether you believe that the ends justify the means. I don't.

The movie shows how people can have a lot of professional and financial success but at the end of the day what matters is close personal relationships; with family, friends, and colleagues.
We all hunger for acceptance, recognition, forgiveness, and reconciliation.

4 comments:

  1. Hi Ross, I hope things are alright in light of hurricane Debbie. Best wishes.

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    1. Thanks for asking. Yes. We survived. Do have a big tree limb on our house roof though.

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  2. No. The word 'hero' is quite overused nowadays.
    A hero is someone with sufficient courage to do something (for the common) good while risking his own life or limbs.
    Steve Jobs had many qualities (and a few shortcomings), and certainly had an influence on the world of technology, but a hero, no.

    Also note that the 'world of technology', despite its pervasiveness, is a rather small part of humanity - so 'transformed the world' is too big of a statement too.
    Even though technology plays a big role in humanity, I would say that humanity is more defined by life, relations, abstract thinking, and depending on your view, religion.

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    1. Thanks for the comment. I am glad to see that I am not alone in being skeptical about some of this hype.

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