The immediate beatification of Steve Jobs, the visionary Apple chief who has been killed by pancreatic cancer aged 56, fulfills all the criteria for mass delusion and is evidence of some kind of quasi-religious quackery. The Book of Jobs, indeed. Sky News report that Apple-obsessives are “flocking” to Apple stores, presumably to “pay tribute” to the man behind the iBook, iPod, IPhone and iPad. Here again we may pause and wonder at the Mania of Crowds. There are live-blogs and vigils and everyone is iSad and all the rest of it. Strewth!
To say this does not diminish Mr Jobs’ achievements. It merely asks that we keep them in some kind of perspective and by doing so might better honour his life, work and legacy. But to listen to some of the weeping and wailing you might think that prior to the inventions of the iPod, iPhone and iPad no-one had ever previously listened to music, endured a telephone conversation or read anything on a screen. Apple improved each of those experiences; it did not create them.
Again, pointing this out does not deny Jobs’ entrepreneurial genius. Starting with the GUI, Apple’s products have consistently delivered for consumers. Or, rather, they have delivered for those consumers who can afford their products. In computers at least, Apple remains an elite and niche product. Say what you will about Microsoft or IBM or HP, they – and others – made computing affordable for the masses. (Jobs & Co made it elegant for the wealthy, which is not quite the same thing.)
But making people happy is not a small thing. iPhones and iPods and iPads do that. They offer great possibilities for publishing and have played a huge part in making it easier for anyone, anywhere, to produce content – writing, music, film, video or whatever – of their own and share it with everyone else. But, again, making things easier (while useful) is not the same as making things in the first place. How is not the same as What and not, in the end, worth quite as much.
Steve Jobs was some kind of gorgeous genius and his products have, incrementally, helped make like nicer, prettier and happier for millions of people. That’s no tiny achievement and one well worth celebrating sensibly. That does not require one to rush to an Apple Store to hang around with depressed hipsters and make a fool of oneself. Those that do so reveal themselves as members of a cult that’s just as stupid as any other and equally deserving of scorn and pity. Making an iReligion is even dafter than other faiths which at least had the excuse of being invented in older, simpler times.
This post was written, like pretty much everything else I’ve typed this century, on a Mac.
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