4 ms·

I remember a story from the early 1980's about Steve Jobs. Steve asked, what is the most efficient animal in motion? People would give many answers. The corr

I remember a story from the early 1980's about Steve Jobs. Steve asked, what is the most efficient animal in motion? People would give many answers. The correct answer was a condor in flight. A common wrong answer was a human being. Steve then pointed out that the human isn't even close. Not even in the running as far as efficiency of some other animals. But . . . if you give the human a bicycle, then the human absolutely cleans up in terms of efficiency. Steve wanted personal computers to be "a bicycle for the mind".

netcan 6y ago
Isn't the condor still much more efficient. How many calories does a cyclist need to travel 100 miles?
- DannyB2 6y ago
  I'm just repeating it as I remember it after nearly 40 years. :-) Back in the day, there wasn't Google, Wikipedia, Snopes, etc. or I would have looked it up back then.
- linuxftw 6y ago
  Humans in orbit for long periods seem like they'd be the most efficient.
viklove 6y ago
> A common wrong answer was a human being. > if you give the human a bicycle, then the human absolutely cleans up in terms of efficiency. So the correct answer is a human being. Wait until Steve finds out about cars!
- firethief 6y ago
  Cars are not an animal, nor are they energy-efficient compared to a condor. And Steve's dead.
mgaw 6y ago
Here is a recording showing Jobs telling the story: https://youtube.com/watch?v=ob_GX50Za6c https://youtube.com/watch?v=ob_GX50Za6c