The Objects of Our Life (1983)

I find it breathtaking how profound his understanding was of the dramatic changes that were about to happen as the computer became broadly accessible. Of course, beyond just being prophetic...

The author of this article should consider not reading any more about the history of computing for health reasons.

If that takes their breath away, they're at serious risk of going into cardiac arrest if they keep going and discover some of the many other fascinating figures from the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s who were enjoying speculating about the direction things would go in.

Do you see how Elon Musk behaves in real time? That was Steve Jobs in his day, but we didn't have social media, so we didn't get to see his tantrums. Both Jobs and Musk were known for thinking very little of people outside their personal circles. It just shows that human beings are innately attracted to mythology and love to romanticize authoritative figures, even when those figures display sociopathic tendencies. Maybe that's why polls say people think less and less of democracy and more and more of autocracy all over the world. We can say these people are changing the world but we should not forget that they are not role models.

What an excellent speaker. Despite many moral issues with his character, I am a big admirer of Jobs in a professional capacity.

I have found that audiences genuinely appreciate when you speak powerfully and simply; you can rephrase something like

"we're considering many different possible pathways, and some of them we're finding are less optimized to meet our institutional goals"

to

"we're not sure what to do, and so far most of the ideas we thought of were pretty bad"

and your audience laughs and leans in. I try to emulate that Jobs-ian style at work and a lot of people seem to like my presentations.

I think people really like it when someone takes the responsibility of standing up and saying "let's not overcomplicate this, I'll take responsibility for making the decisions and I don't spend a lot of time trying to hide my real level of knowledge. In fact, I may know less than some of you." (Even if that's probably not true.)

Another good (albeit hyperbolic) example of this is Jeremy Irons' speech near the end of Margin Call (2011) where he tells the junior analyst to "speak to me as if I am a very small child, or possibly a golden retriever." In fact, that's also an explicit direction given to flight controllers at NASA during their training.

All I could think about when listening to this interesting clip is, "How many young people, today, even have any idea what he's talking about, re: computers being ugly and hard to use?" Since this is 1983, he's obviously talking about IBM PCs[1] and DOS[2] -- not even MS Windows (Windows 3.1[3] wouldn't arrive until 1993, a full decade later). But that might be lost on younger listeners today.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_PC%E2%80%93compatible

[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS-DOS

[3]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_3.1#Windows_3.1

SJ was a true visionary. He had a philosophical and deep look at the computer revolution, and he was one of the few leaders who actually cared about building products he could recommend to his own friends and family.

A lot of awesome predictions that ended up being true: software trials, app store (he calls it the radio station for software), computers getting smaller and smaller, internet, 13/14 year olds creating businesses with apps, computers getting cheaper to under $1000.

Anyone know more about Steve’s hifi setup in the famous “sitting on the floor with a lamp” photo?

One lesson I continually take away from early Apple is how well rounded the core folks were in things other than technology. Design, religion. Typography, fashion, literature...really the genius of Apple was human-ness brought to bear on technology.

These days the technology shapes us, and companies push us to adapt to their tech offering. Thou shalt have the shitty Aptos font. Thine eyes will be assaulted by advertisements even in your most reflective moments using our devices. Etc.

SJ was a grade A ass** in a hundred ways. And Apple isnt the Apple of 1983. But trying to imbue computing with the human spirit was a massive contribution to society, and I hope we can continue to drive that forwards.

I think that picture of Jobs in a room with a Tiffany lamp and his stereo is interesting. I don't like the lamp and that doesn't look like a room in which I would want to spend much time.

But it does make me think about my space and my stuff.

What are the objects you own that feel extraordinarily well designed? Jobs' lamp is likely still plugged in someplace. Will your favorite objects still be admired 40 years from now?

1h audio of 1983 speech and Q&A responses, digitized from cassette in 2012, http://lifelibertytech.com/2012/10/02/the-lost-steve-jobs-sp...

Is there more video than the few minutes in OP?

and points to the possibility that one day we might be able, in any given situation, to ask a computer, “What would Aristotle have said?”—and get an answer.

Steve Jobs predicts ChatGPT. Off by 40 years, but nobody's perfect.

Page isn’t loading for me. Here’s a YouTube video (audio only) with the same description that I assume is the same content.

https://youtu.be/2rqwi63Q1Gs?si=W7TZqVLCAj55mHkw

Heraclitus plead, "Listen not to me but the logos (word)"

i.e., to honor SJ, it may be best to pick up his work - to respect what he respected - instead of lining up in idolatry.

In this case, the key insight about design is not that it's beautiful.

Because the personal computer would be so useful that it would become pervasive, it was an incredible opportunity to inject some beauty and joy into many, many interactions, and thus if not enliven people at least counter the deadening effects of continuous interaction with purely functional affordances. Steve was asking designers to see it as such (and not as a threat to their traditional tools and value vectors).

We in society are trapped by the things we need to live at this scale and level of coordination. At a minimum, don't be evil. But that's not all.

In 2024, the situation has reversed: generations have become conditioned by the attention economy, to the point that everyone - small children to our best tech leaders - are making sound-bite reactive emotional decisions shaping our future.

Tech affords not just the opportunity to influence. It's realizing that other people made your capabilities and everything you depend on, and you're responsible for doing the same, to make it possible for future people to live a good life.

I think SJ took it as a responsibility instead of an opportunity because as an adopted person he directly experienced the contingency of nuture and appreciation for the people who did raise him.

"the ability to put something back into that pool of human experiences is extremely neat" - SJ, remembered by Jony Ives

Imagine spending 2-3 hours per day interacting with computers.

Full talk, grimy audio: https://youtube.com/watch?v=2rqwi63Q1Gs&si=F2ng6g7_HTVMDahP

I assume most HNers have seen this, but if you haven't seen The Mother Of All Demos, you owe it to yourself to see what was possible in 1968 but wouldn't be taken seriously for another 15-30 years. [0]

[0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJDv-zdhzMY

He looks like a cross between Ashton Kutcher and Roger Federer.

EDIT: Tread lightly lest ye compare a god to mere mortals.

The great communicator.

Was he speaking like this right from birth, a little baby, pacing around, pointing at his pacifier, saying 'this is crap, who designed this, make it a big soft breast, follow nature, curves'.

Called to the stage, he bounds down the center aisle, notebook in hand.

It may be worth noting to today's readers that “notebook” here does not refer to a computer.

SJ has undeniably championed great progress at the technology design front. But I think it’s important to acknowledge the bad parts, or rather, the things we lost along the way. Mainly, I think, the push for too much abstractions, needed to introduce the disruptive new medium of PCs to everyday people, holds no “truth to material”. This in turn has made ignorance almost a prerequisite to use computers as they come. There’s a tremendous distance between the way of computers and the way of users, so much so that, specially in software engineering, it feels like a huge portion of the job is just making very long and fragile bridges to connect the reality of machines to these unsound models of “humanized” interfaces. It makes the machine less efficient and the users less powerful than they could be if the mechanical truth wasn’t considered an aberration. In a sense, we’re now trapped within the tyranny of a very particular semiological viewpoint.

What amazes me and leaves me breathless is the incredibly and profound ability of a thinker on a coabre of such magnitude to express such complex and intricate ideas blah blah blah blah blah blah shoot me. Kill me please. I am empty and I must use a speech made long ago by someone trying to sell his product to give me meaning and feel like I’m alive. Help me. Help me. My personhood is fading….buy mac. Buy Mac. Buy Mac. Think different. Think different. Buy Mac. Don’t be like others. Be cool. Buy Mac.

It's interesting how the industry mocks the image of Steve joba by putting a turtleneck on a scruffy middle aged person that speaks modern corporate gobbledygook. The big blank stage revealing some product with none of the interesting thoughts behind it

Steve points out that the design effort in the U.S. at the time had been focused on the automobile, with little consideration or effort given to consumer electronics

Home stereo equipment has a long and storied history of design, and before that it was radios. The 80's was chock full of interesting and pretty electronic gadgets.

Hell of an article. This what I used to buy newspaper magazines for.

I'm no Steve, but I'm shamelessly stealing the structure for my next "What's up with AI" talk.

I have a deep admiration for Steve Jobs and the revolutionary impact Apple had on the computing world. They truly had the potential to push the boundaries of innovation even further. However, it's disappointing to see how they have clamped down on innovation under the guise of security. By turning against hackers, who were once their allies, they have stifled the very spirit of creativity and exploration that once defined them.

In contrast, I'm grateful for my Android phone. Despite its own set of issues, it still allows me the freedom to root it and truly own my device. This openness fosters a community of innovation and experimentation, something that Apple seems to have moved away from. It's a reminder that while security is important, it shouldn't come at the cost of stifling innovation and user freedom.