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A dick who's right, and who completely changed the media player AND mobile landscape with his products. He may be a dick, but he's got a lot more clout than yo

A dick who's right, and who completely changed the media player AND mobile landscape with his products. He may be a dick, but he's got a lot more clout than you or I will probably ever have.

MatthewPhillips 15y ago
Oh, lord. Listen, Steve Jobs' legacy is secure. He'll be remembered for centuries if not more. A thousand years from now he'll be taught in history class, probably with a great deal of admiration. But today, to the vast majority of people who have met him in real life, he's been a dick. If you walk up to meet someone and your reaction is to insult them, you are a dick. A genius dick is still a dick.
- ma2rten 15y ago
  I guess that leaves the question: Is it okay to be a dick? Or do you maybe even need to accept that some people will perceive you as a 'dick' to become as successful as Steve Jobs is. I am sure there are people who think that Bill Gates and Larry Page are dicks as well.
- sambeau 15y ago
  No. A genius dick is a genius first; a dick second. Feynman: dick. Tesla: dick. Van Gogh: dick. Pythagorus: dick. Chaplin: dick. Churchill: dick. Byron: dick. History's biggest genius: Newton was also history's biggest dick. Do we remember him as a dick first? No. Geniuses often act like dicks because they operate outside of normal convention - get over it and enjoy the genius at work.
  - nandemo 15y ago
    That might be so, but I still wish people people reserved the praise for the genius part; saying "Steve is a champion who is not afraid of speaking his mind" is praising him for being an asshole.
  - masklinn 15y ago
    From what I hear, Feynman was a pretty nice guy. With men. He seems to have been pretty paternalistic and sexist as far as women go, according to both his books and articles on him [0]: > The charming side of Richard helped people forgive him for his uncharming characteristics. For example, in many ways Richard was a sexist. Whenever it came time for his daily bowl of soup he would look around for the nearest "girl" and ask if she would fetch it to him. It did not matter if she was the cook, an engineer, or the president of the company. I once asked a female engineer who had just been a victim of this if it bothered her. "Yes, it really annoys me," she said. "On the other hand, he is the only one who ever explained quantum mechanics to me as if I could understand it." That was the essence of Richard's charm. http://longnow.org/essays/richard-feynman-connection-machine/ http://longnow.org/essays/richard-feynman-connection-machine...
  - jhamburger 15y ago
    No doubt the world needs Steve jobs more than it needs one more nice guy selling life insurance. But Plenty of people have accomplished more than Steve jobs (gasp!) while still treating other people with a minimal level of respect. You don't tell people you just met to fuck off because you're a genius, you do it because you're an arrogant d-bag.
  - sambeau 15y ago
    Stephen Hawking on Isaac Newton from A Brief History of Time: ISAAC NEWTON Isaac Newton was not a pleasant man. His relations with other academics were notorious, with most of his later life spent embroiled in heated disputes. Following publication of Principia Mathematica – surely the most influential book ever written in physics – Newton had risen rapidly into public prominence. He was appointed president of the Royal Society and became the first scientist ever to be knighted. Newton soon clashed with the Astronomer Royal, John Flamsteed, who had earlier provided Newton with much-needed data for Principia, but was now withholding information that Newton wanted. Newton would not take no for an answer: he had himself appointed to the governing body of the Royal Observatory and then tried to force immediate publication of the data. Eventually he arranged for Flamsteed’s work to be seized and prepared for publication by Flamsteed’s mortal enemy, Edmond Halley. But Flamsteed took the case to court and, in the nick of time, won a court order preventing distribution of the stolen work. Newton was incensed and sought his revenge by systematically deleting all references to Flamsteed in later editions of Principia. A more serious dispute arose with the German philosopher Gottfried Leibniz. Both Leibniz and Newton had independently developed a branch of mathematics called calculus, which underlies most of modern physics. Although we now know that Newton discovered calculus years before Leibniz, he published his work much later. A major row ensued over who had been first, with scientists vigorously defending both contenders. It is remarkable, however, that most of the articles appearing in defense of Newton were originally written by his own hand – and only published in the name of friends! As the row grew, Leibniz made the mistake of appealing to the Royal Society to resolve the dispute. Newton, as president, appointed an “impartial” committee to investigate, coincidentally consisting entirely of Newton’s friends! But that was not all: Newton then wrote the committee’s report himself and had the Royal Society publish it, officially accusing Leibniz of plagiarism. Still unsatisfied, he then wrote an anonymous review of the report in the Royal Society’s own periodical. Following the death of Leibniz, Newton is reported to have declared that he had taken great satisfaction in “breaking Leibniz’s heart.” During the period of these two disputes, Newton had already left Cambridge and academe. He had been active in anti- Catholic politics at Cambridge, and later in Parliament, and was rewarded eventually with the lucrative post of Warden of the Royal Mint. Here he used his talents for deviousness and vitriol in a more socially acceptable way, successfully conducting a major campaign against counterfeiting, even sending several men to their death on the gallows.

A dick who's right, and who completely changed the media player AND mobile landscape with his products. He may be a dick, but he's got a lot more clout than you or I will probably ever have.

MatthewPhillips 15y ago

Oh, lord. Listen, Steve Jobs' legacy is secure. He'll be remembered for centuries if not more. A thousand years from now he'll be taught in history class, probably with a great deal of admiration. But today, to the vast majority of people who have met him in real life, he's been a dick. If you walk up to meet someone and your reaction is to insult them, you are a dick. A genius dick is still a dick.

ma2rten 15y ago
I guess that leaves the question: Is it okay to be a dick? Or do you maybe even need to accept that some people will perceive you as a 'dick' to become as successful as Steve Jobs is. I am sure there are people who think that Bill Gates and Larry Page are dicks as well.
sambeau 15y ago
No. A genius dick is a genius first; a dick second. Feynman: dick. Tesla: dick. Van Gogh: dick. Pythagorus: dick. Chaplin: dick. Churchill: dick. Byron: dick. History's biggest genius: Newton was also history's biggest dick. Do we remember him as a dick first? No. Geniuses often act like dicks because they operate outside of normal convention - get over it and enjoy the genius at work.
- nandemo 15y ago
  That might be so, but I still wish people people reserved the praise for the genius part; saying "Steve is a champion who is not afraid of speaking his mind" is praising him for being an asshole.
- masklinn 15y ago
  From what I hear, Feynman was a pretty nice guy. With men. He seems to have been pretty paternalistic and sexist as far as women go, according to both his books and articles on him [0]: > The charming side of Richard helped people forgive him for his uncharming characteristics. For example, in many ways Richard was a sexist. Whenever it came time for his daily bowl of soup he would look around for the nearest "girl" and ask if she would fetch it to him. It did not matter if she was the cook, an engineer, or the president of the company. I once asked a female engineer who had just been a victim of this if it bothered her. "Yes, it really annoys me," she said. "On the other hand, he is the only one who ever explained quantum mechanics to me as if I could understand it." That was the essence of Richard's charm. http://longnow.org/essays/richard-feynman-connection-machine/ http://longnow.org/essays/richard-feynman-connection-machine...
- jhamburger 15y ago
  No doubt the world needs Steve jobs more than it needs one more nice guy selling life insurance. But Plenty of people have accomplished more than Steve jobs (gasp!) while still treating other people with a minimal level of respect. You don't tell people you just met to fuck off because you're a genius, you do it because you're an arrogant d-bag.
- sambeau 15y ago
  Stephen Hawking on Isaac Newton from A Brief History of Time: ISAAC NEWTON Isaac Newton was not a pleasant man. His relations with other academics were notorious, with most of his later life spent embroiled in heated disputes. Following publication of Principia Mathematica – surely the most influential book ever written in physics – Newton had risen rapidly into public prominence. He was appointed president of the Royal Society and became the first scientist ever to be knighted. Newton soon clashed with the Astronomer Royal, John Flamsteed, who had earlier provided Newton with much-needed data for Principia, but was now withholding information that Newton wanted. Newton would not take no for an answer: he had himself appointed to the governing body of the Royal Observatory and then tried to force immediate publication of the data. Eventually he arranged for Flamsteed’s work to be seized and prepared for publication by Flamsteed’s mortal enemy, Edmond Halley. But Flamsteed took the case to court and, in the nick of time, won a court order preventing distribution of the stolen work. Newton was incensed and sought his revenge by systematically deleting all references to Flamsteed in later editions of Principia. A more serious dispute arose with the German philosopher Gottfried Leibniz. Both Leibniz and Newton had independently developed a branch of mathematics called calculus, which underlies most of modern physics. Although we now know that Newton discovered calculus years before Leibniz, he published his work much later. A major row ensued over who had been first, with scientists vigorously defending both contenders. It is remarkable, however, that most of the articles appearing in defense of Newton were originally written by his own hand – and only published in the name of friends! As the row grew, Leibniz made the mistake of appealing to the Royal Society to resolve the dispute. Newton, as president, appointed an “impartial” committee to investigate, coincidentally consisting entirely of Newton’s friends! But that was not all: Newton then wrote the committee’s report himself and had the Royal Society publish it, officially accusing Leibniz of plagiarism. Still unsatisfied, he then wrote an anonymous review of the report in the Royal Society’s own periodical. Following the death of Leibniz, Newton is reported to have declared that he had taken great satisfaction in “breaking Leibniz’s heart.” During the period of these two disputes, Newton had already left Cambridge and academe. He had been active in anti- Catholic politics at Cambridge, and later in Parliament, and was rewarded eventually with the lucrative post of Warden of the Royal Mint. Here he used his talents for deviousness and vitriol in a more socially acceptable way, successfully conducting a major campaign against counterfeiting, even sending several men to their death on the gallows.