Steve Jobs Passes Away

[msj]

Charity does not equal morality. Jobs created more wealth than anyone but a handful of other people. That wealth created economic activity providing jobs for millions of people all around the world. No charity can do that.

For all his efforts at charity, Gates' biggest contribution to the good of humanity will remain Microsoft, not the Gates Foundation. His software products, what they enabled people to do, and how ubiquitous they became, reshaped the very fabric of human civilization.

I have a hard time believing that someone else, under different corporate names, would not have created that wealth and "reshaped the fabric of human civilization."

And who knows, maybe they would have done it without us having to spend our lives rebooting Windows or being annoyed at the stupidity of iTunes.

[Bonam]

I have a hard time believing that someone else, under different corporate names, would not have created that wealth and "reshaped the fabric of human civilization."

And who knows, maybe they would have done it without us having to spend our lives rebooting Windows or being annoyed at the stupidity of iTunes.

Oh, I'm sure someone else would have done it, and probably not too much later either. But that's not how things went down. The fact that someone else could have done it, that it was where things likely would have naturally led, does not take away from the fact that certain specific individuals really were the ones to do it. Hypothetical reality does not take away from the real world.

[msj]

Oh, I'm sure someone else would have done it, and probably not too much later either. But that's not how things went down. The fact that someone else could have done it, that it was where things likely would have naturally led, does not take away from the fact that certain specific individuals really were the ones to do it. Hypothetical reality does not take away from the real world.

It may not take away from the real world but it certainly makes your initial claim to be hyperbole, to say the least.

[August1991]

I have a hard time believing that someone else, under different corporate names, would not have created that wealth and "reshaped the fabric of human civilization."

That's a terrifying "what if" question. msj, yours is the logic of the people in the Occupy Wall Street movement. "All this stuff would have happened anyway. The corporate suits are interchangeable."

By your logic, it was "inevitable" that the Allies defeated Hitler and the West defeated the Soviet Union - as if all the efforts of various individuals along the way didn't matter because the end result was predetermined.

"Different corporate names?" Sometimes I wonder about how many paths our world has missed because someone never pursued an idea, or never had the chance.

Oh, I'm sure someone else would have done it, and probably not too much later either.

Bonam, like msj, I suspect that you are product of a world that works. You cannot imagine a world that does not work.

In the past 50-60 years, the western world has managed to enjoy unprecedented growth. People born after 1950 or so may even believe that this growth/change is inevitable. Sorry, it ain't so.

Thomas Edison said that genius is 98% perspiration and 2% inspiration.

Edited October 25, 2011 by August1991

[msj]

That's a terrifying "what if" question. msj, yours is the logic of the people in the Occupy Wall Street movement. "All this stuff would have happened anyway. The corporate suits are interchangeable."

Uh, strange leap.

By your logic, it was "inevitable" that the Allies defeated Hitler and the West defeated the Soviet Union - as if all the efforts of various individuals along the way didn't matter because the end result was predetermined.

No, by your logic you think that I think it was "inevitable."

Yes, I do think the iPod was inevitable given that I was using a MP3 player years before it was "invented."

Yes, I do think a GUI was inevitable given the type of software I was using prior to it (I don't remember the name but it was made by IBM and it was great).

None of that leads one to the conclusion that the allies would have inevitably won the war.

To come up with such a leap in "logic" is borderline mental, imo.