Steve Jobs: Prophet of a new religion

[cbayer]

http://www.religionnews.com/2013/08/20/steve-jobs-prophet-of-a-new-religion/

Jeffrey Weiss | Aug 20, 2013 |


Economist cover Photo courtesy iPadinCanada

(RNS) The new movie about Steve Jobs is short on anything explicitly religious. Like its main character, however, it’s got a thread of transcendence running through it.

The truth about Jobs and religion may be that, in this arena as in others, he was ahead of the cutting edge.

The film isn’t making the purists happy, in part because it takes too many liberties with history. But it’s not a documentary. I’ll go against many of the reviews and say that Ashton Kutcher does a pretty good job at representing the personality found in Jobs’ speeches and in what has been written about Jobs — particularly in the massive authorized biography by Walter Isaacson.

One quote in that book, from one of Jobs’ old girlfriends, pretty much captures the character in the film: “He was an enlightened being who was cruel,” she told Isaacson. “That’s a strange combination.”

more at link

[FredisDead]

1. Jobs, Reviewed by Steve Wozniak

http://gizmodo.com/jobs-reviewed-by-steve-wozniak-1153771108?utm_campaign=socialflow_gizmodo_facebook&utm_source=gizmodo_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

In the discussion section of our Jobs review, Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak weighed in with his own impressions of the movie—and how he and others were portrayed. What follows is Woz's unedited take on Jobs:

I saw Jobs tonight. I thought the acting throughout was good. I was attentive and entertained but not greatly enough to recommend the movie. One friend who is in the movie said he didn't want to watch fiction so he wasn't interested in seeing it.

I suspect a lot of what was wrong with the film came from Ashton's own image of Jobs. Ashton made some disingenuous and wrong statements about me recently (including my supposedly having said that the 'movie' was bad, which was probably Ashton believing pop press headlines) and that I didn't like the movie because I'm paid to consult on another one. These are examples of Ashton still being in character. Either film would have paid me to consult, but the Jobs one already had a script written. I can't take that creative leadership from someone else. And I was turned off by the Jobs script. But I still hoped for a great movie.

As to compromising principles for money, I will add one detail left out of the film. When Apple decided not to reward early friends who helped, I gave them large blocks of my own stock. Because it was right. And I made it possible for 80 other employees to get some stock prior to the IPO so they could participate in the wealth.

[cbayer]

2. Such a complicated relationship those two had.

It would be impossible for Wozniak to be objective, I would guess.

I wonder how a Bill Gates review would read.

[Wait Wut]

3. Interesting.

The article is written in the same tone that so many use when discussing Steve Jobs. Fascination, admiration, hatred, love.

I'll admit to being a huge follower of Steve Jobs and Apple. Call me whatever you want. Say what you want about Steve Jobs and Apple. I've been there since the beginning and have heard it all before, over and over and over again.

Thanks for the good read, cbayer. Still not sure if I want to endure Ashton Kutcher for 2 hours. Nice guy, not hard on the eyes, but...it's still Kelso. I'm sure I'll rent it when it gets to Netflix.

[cbayer]

5. I'll wait for Netflix as well, but I will surely watch it at some point.

I share your fascination with the man and the company.

I had the opportunity to spend some time at the Genuis Bar last week. Somebody really ought to do a documentary. It was fascinating and I could have sat there for hours just observing.

[rrneck]

4. Is there any doubt I'd rec this? ntt

[cbayer]

6. Have you seen the movie yet?

[rrneck]

7. Nope.

I'll probably wait for the DVD on that one. Saw Elesium last night though. It was pretty good. But the best I've seen lately was Cloud Atlas. It came as close to a representation of transcendence as any movie I've seen.

[cbayer]

8. Haven't heard of Cloud Atlas. Will check it out.

No access to theater or mail, so I have to wait for things to stream. And streaming is out of the question during the tourist season, so haven't seen a movie for a while.

I did watch all of Orange is the New Black while over on the mainland last week.

[TM99]

9. Sigh

One quote in that book, from one of Jobs’ old girlfriends, pretty much captures the character in the film: “He was an enlightened being who was cruel,” she told Isaacson. “That’s a strange combination.”

Bullshit. He wasn't enlightened. He was at best a Narcissist and at worse a Sociopath. He was cruel, manipulative, controlling, and verbally abusive. He was well known to have cheated partners and ripped off his employees. He was also charismatic and knew how to sell things to people who believe he was as he appeared. These are all the hallmarks of a Narcissist and/or a Sociopath.

If a 'religion' forms around Apple & Jobs, it will be as bad as Scientology, also 'founded' by a manipulative narcissist.

[2ndAmForComputers]

10. He destroyed Apple's own museum. He didn't like the past.

Specifically, he didn't like open computing, represented by the Apple II. In his world, there's the Elite of a dozen or so people who create the Holy Machines, and the mindless droness who consume them and are grateful to their iPad-giving God. If you liked to hack/tweak, then Steve Jobs hated you. Even if he didn't know you existed.

Let's just be grateful he never decided to become a politician.

[TM99]

12. Oh, he liked the past alright,

as long as he could rip it off and claim Apple invented it.

Yes, everything Jobs did was centered around controlling the platform from the hardware through the OS to the applications. It makes it 'easy' for some, dumbs it down for many, and often unbearable for a few.

I admit to liking complete control over my hardware and software. I still use a few older Apple products. Why? For one reason, I don't want to pour thousands more into replacing a complete home project studio. I use an iPod Touch, only after I could jailbreak it. Then it makes a decent mp3 player as long as I avoid iTunes and use something like Clementine or MediaMonkey to manage it with.

I am very grateful he did not go into politics at all!

[cbayer]

11. Lol, not an Apple fan I guess.

I don't doubt he was many of the things you describe, but he was also brilliant and fascinating, imo. The comparison to Scientology may be apt, except that you actually get some hardware and software for your donation.

[TM99]

13. Actually, just not a Jobs fan.

I grew up on Woz's Apple I & II series computers. After Jobs was rightfully ousted, I used numerous LC, Quadra's, and Power Mac's and Powerbooks. After he returned, I saw the 'writing on the wall' so to speak while rolling out iMacs in a local school district. I was doing OS X development from the day it was beta'd, and I knew that Jobs was not going to be 'open' with the Unix that was now his new OS. I still use a few PPC G4's and G5's but mostly for music & video production. I even own an iPod Touch 4G but it is fully jailbroken.

But as I shared in another post, I prefer the openness even of Windows over Apple today - well except for Metro! I prefer Linux the most.

Getting the hardware and software makes it worse. You pay good money for that. Cialdini's Six Principles of Influence come in to play here as well which can insidiously make such a 'religion' a very very bad thing.

[cbayer]

14. I know people who share your feelings about how Apple products

are too proprietary and restrictive. My husband uses Linux as well.

I don't think it's an actual religion, of course, but Apple and Jobs certainly have their devotees. I anthropomorphize my Apple products - give them names, talk about feeding them, speak directly to them at times. And I can't imagine going back to a Windows based system, ever.

The one thing I try not to do is to get into fights with people about it. It's kind of like religion in that way. Apple or not, as long as it doesn't impinge on me or others rights, I don't really care what someone uses.

[TM99]

15. Oh, I don't fight people either about it.

I try to educate about openness if they show interest but I am rather platform agnostic if I am not so with the corporations themselves.