Steve Jobs

I run the risk of getting some hatemail for this post but I want to state at the start that I am not running down Steve Jobs. He was clearly at the forefront of creating some great consumer products and it is very sad that he has passed.

This post is not about Steve Jobs but rather the bizarre celebrity obsessed culture that magnifies the importance of famous people. Steve Jobs is really secondary to my point.

The newspaper headlines say that he was a "visionary" and that he "changed the world."

I'm not sure how to define a "visionary" but did he really change the world? I own several ipods and I have an Iphone 4. I'm happy to have these because I get to listen to music, watch videos and play Angry Birds.

So I imagined a world without Apple products. Hmm...i would still listen to music. I had a cell phone before Apple started producing them and probably would have one now. I'm not sure about Angry Birds...maybe, maybe not. But how would the world be different?

Racism would still plague too many societies. Economic downturns will hurt many vulnerable people. Israel and the Palestinians would probably still be at odds.

My Iphone is "cool" and I was very happy when i got it and started playing with it. I have yet to get an Ipad but it looks pretty "cool" too. I suppose Apple products have made many people feel special and "cool"....at least until everyone has one.

But that brings me to my next point. How many people have Apple products? I don't know the actual numbers...but I am willing to guess that a fraction of 1% of humanity owns any Apple products. It is probably the wealthiest fraction of 1% of humanity as well. However that fraction feels "cool" when they listen to their Ipod or talk on their Iphone or watch a movie on their Ipad. Is watching the Matrix on an Ipad is much much better than on a Hi Def TV?

This news coverage reminded me of a time in 1997. Diana Spencer (the former Princess of Wales) had died in a car accident. Tributes flowed and a mountain of flowers appeared at various spots around the world. A famous person had died in a car accident and people who had never met her (but had seen her on TV) cried as if a family member had passed.

As we watched the coverage on a trading floor TV, a senior trader I was working with declared "this is a disgrace, if mother Theresa had died there wouldn't be so much coverage." Suddenly the cosmos decided it was time to give people a clue. Seconds after he said that, the news text below the live coverage of Diana's wedding said "Breaking news, Mother Theresa has died."

A few days later, the networks scrambled to ensure that Mother Theresa's death received as much coverage as Diana's.

It is sad that Steve Jobs died. It was sad that a runner at the Montreal Marathon died two weeks ago. One was more famous but neither changed the world.

Fame does not make one human tragedy more tragic....despite the way the news media reacts.