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I will never understand why people allow themselves to be humiliated, stressed and abused in the name of "being educated" by so called technological geniuses, w

I will never understand why people allow themselves to be humiliated, stressed and abused in the name of "being educated" by so called technological geniuses, who are narcissistically used to being worshiped by everyone around them just because they are (ephemerally) famous and have a ton of money. IMHO, neither iPhones in particular, nor smartphones in general have really altered the course of the world in any meaningful way. A couple of generations of youngsters will, indeed, spend half of their lives with their faces glued to mobile screens, but then some new technological trend will arrive replacing the old one or perhaps dumping technology altogether will become the new riot. Sooner or later no one will even remember who Steve Jobs was (while names like William Shakespeare or Ernest Hemingway will deservedly live forever, BTW).

simonh 5y ago
The guy knowingly, intentionally tried to deceive Steve. That was the explicit intent, and Steve picked up on it and didn't like it. How is that Steve abusing someone? That's some pretty impressive reality distortion you've got going on there. To be clear it took a lot of stones for this guy to tell his story and clarify what his intent was. Deep respect.
- gary17the 5y ago
  So the guy panicked and bluffed during business negotiations that he wasn't really trained for - so what? Could happen to anyone under pressure and facing disappointment of an unexpectedly low offer. Jobs, supposedly an experienced business professional, could have just coldly smiled, Warren Buffet -style, and could have sent the rookie on his way with a 2/3 offer just to make a point and educate him. Instead, Jobs started calling the poor guy a liar in front of his co-founders, stormed out of the meeting and, in the end, screwed every single person in the entire startup by shamelessly copying their product. To me, it seems like behavior of a Yet Another (Proverbial) Silicon Valley Narcissistic A-hole (YAPSVNA).
  - analognoise 5y ago
    Yeah, who would praise somebody so undeveloped emotionally? What a small, small man. Then you read about how he treated his family and his employees - he was just a tiny thing of a human being. It's sad - like a self-contained parable about how to not live your life.
  - _hilro 5y ago
    The more people that aggressively call out con-artists and bullshitters, the better. He learned a lesson that day and there was subsequently less shittery in the world from then on than there would have been. Win win for decent humans.
  - simonh 5y ago
    Let's suppose the story was reversed. It was Steve Jobs who tried to deceive someone, and the negotiator on the other side detected it and called bullshit on it. Would you be arguing that Steve should have been given the benefit of the doubt and it wasn't a big deal?
  - kobalsky 5y ago
    it was a 100M bluff in front of the CEO of one of the most important companies on earth if you don’t pay for inexperience there I don’t know where you will
- smoldesu 5y ago
  Nobody tried to deceive anyone, Steve threw a temper tantrum when someone wouldn't give him their lifelong work for free, so he responded by playing "good cop bad cop" during their negotiations and making the CEO feel bad enough to admit liability. Frame it however you want, but that kind of mental gymnastics doesn't work on a forum of jaded tech enthusiasts who watched Woz get berated for building a better product.
  - simonh 5y ago
    This had already been posted several times on this thread, before you posted this comment, but apparently it needs posting again: https://twitter.com/apartovi/status/1447324896904638467?t=ou-kcurB8RUUfgvZC1KHRw&s=19 https://twitter.com/apartovi/status/1447324896904638467?t=ou...
    - smoldesu 5y ago
      > and making the CEO feel bad enough to admit liability.
hammyhavoc 5y ago
Youngsters? Look around in the Western world. People of all ages and walks of life have their faces glued to screens, and it has been socially acceptable for a decade at this point. Conflating writers with CEOs doesn't make a lot of sense. One creates art, another creates value.
BitwiseFool 5y ago
I can understand the underlying sentiment you're trying to get across but I just have to challenge the assertion that "IMHO, neither iPhones in particular, nor smartphones in general have really altered the course of the world in any meaningful way" because the world has already been altered greatly by having the capabilities of smartphones be so widely available. In fact, there have been several significant events in recent history that were started because someone used a smartphone to do something. Unless one of the bystanders watching what happened to George Floyd was carrying a camcorder that day, the public would probably have never known about it. I imagine Steve Jobs will probably be relevant in our cultural memories for the next few generations. But his relevance will probably fade, just as people today have heard the name 'Howard Hughes' but are only barely aware of his importance and impact.
- agent008t 5y ago
  Phone cameras were popular before iPhones.
- crossroadsguy 5y ago
  For your last para - I seriously doubt it. I often see youngsters being awed by Musk and sometimes even Gates due to his foundation work/PR/whatever. Jobs? Nope. Yeah, most of them know him and maybe are aware of him but that's about it. And rightly so.

simonh 5y ago

The guy knowingly, intentionally tried to deceive Steve. That was the explicit intent, and Steve picked up on it and didn't like it. How is that Steve abusing someone? That's some pretty impressive reality distortion you've got going on there. To be clear it took a lot of stones for this guy to tell his story and clarify what his intent was. Deep respect.

gary17the 5y ago
So the guy panicked and bluffed during business negotiations that he wasn't really trained for - so what? Could happen to anyone under pressure and facing disappointment of an unexpectedly low offer. Jobs, supposedly an experienced business professional, could have just coldly smiled, Warren Buffet -style, and could have sent the rookie on his way with a 2/3 offer just to make a point and educate him. Instead, Jobs started calling the poor guy a liar in front of his co-founders, stormed out of the meeting and, in the end, screwed every single person in the entire startup by shamelessly copying their product. To me, it seems like behavior of a Yet Another (Proverbial) Silicon Valley Narcissistic A-hole (YAPSVNA).
- analognoise 5y ago
  Yeah, who would praise somebody so undeveloped emotionally? What a small, small man. Then you read about how he treated his family and his employees - he was just a tiny thing of a human being. It's sad - like a self-contained parable about how to not live your life.
- _hilro 5y ago
  The more people that aggressively call out con-artists and bullshitters, the better. He learned a lesson that day and there was subsequently less shittery in the world from then on than there would have been. Win win for decent humans.
- simonh 5y ago
  Let's suppose the story was reversed. It was Steve Jobs who tried to deceive someone, and the negotiator on the other side detected it and called bullshit on it. Would you be arguing that Steve should have been given the benefit of the doubt and it wasn't a big deal?
- kobalsky 5y ago
  it was a 100M bluff in front of the CEO of one of the most important companies on earth if you don’t pay for inexperience there I don’t know where you will
smoldesu 5y ago
Nobody tried to deceive anyone, Steve threw a temper tantrum when someone wouldn't give him their lifelong work for free, so he responded by playing "good cop bad cop" during their negotiations and making the CEO feel bad enough to admit liability. Frame it however you want, but that kind of mental gymnastics doesn't work on a forum of jaded tech enthusiasts who watched Woz get berated for building a better product.
- simonh 5y ago
  This had already been posted several times on this thread, before you posted this comment, but apparently it needs posting again: https://twitter.com/apartovi/status/1447324896904638467?t=ou-kcurB8RUUfgvZC1KHRw&s=19 https://twitter.com/apartovi/status/1447324896904638467?t=ou...
  - smoldesu 5y ago
    > and making the CEO feel bad enough to admit liability.

hammyhavoc 5y ago

Youngsters? Look around in the Western world. People of all ages and walks of life have their faces glued to screens, and it has been socially acceptable for a decade at this point. Conflating writers with CEOs doesn't make a lot of sense. One creates art, another creates value.

BitwiseFool 5y ago

I can understand the underlying sentiment you're trying to get across but I just have to challenge the assertion that "IMHO, neither iPhones in particular, nor smartphones in general have really altered the course of the world in any meaningful way" because the world has already been altered greatly by having the capabilities of smartphones be so widely available. In fact, there have been several significant events in recent history that were started because someone used a smartphone to do something. Unless one of the bystanders watching what happened to George Floyd was carrying a camcorder that day, the public would probably have never known about it. I imagine Steve Jobs will probably be relevant in our cultural memories for the next few generations. But his relevance will probably fade, just as people today have heard the name 'Howard Hughes' but are only barely aware of his importance and impact.

agent008t 5y ago
Phone cameras were popular before iPhones.
crossroadsguy 5y ago
For your last para - I seriously doubt it. I often see youngsters being awed by Musk and sometimes even Gates due to his foundation work/PR/whatever. Jobs? Nope. Yeah, most of them know him and maybe are aware of him but that's about it. And rightly so.