4 ms·

I don't fear for Apple — I fear for the entire industry. Tonight I got my new toy and of course I wasted a few hours exploring every inch of the iPhone 4s. But

I don't fear for Apple — I fear for the entire industry. Tonight I got my new toy and of course I wasted a few hours exploring every inch of the iPhone 4s. But the more I did it, the more empty I found myself feeling. It hit me hard that I didn't give a damn about the thing and I was still upset about Jobs. It's the very notion that there will never be another "and just one more thing". Walking home tonight I kept rattling over the many impersonal things he touched and made human. Even if Jobs had just done the Apple II that would would have been enough for one lifetime, yet he did it again and again. And I'm ten years younger than Jobs so my entire concept of technology was shaped by him and now I'm feeling like an orphan. And while he's not eloquent that's what our friend Woz is really saying...

mladenkovacevic 15y ago
I would take that even a step further... The entire consumerist culture is under threat (at least in this hemisphere). Think of how excited you are when you get any new toy (car, brand new jacket, tv, shoes..) and all the euphoria and emotional investment involved in the point and time of purchase. Then you take it home, play with it for a little while and while you realize that this "thing" doesn't completely and fully satisfy you, the excitement fizzles out over time and you go looking for the next high. Apple is like the Vatican of consumerism so they are able to sustain this emotional euphoria in their customers for much much longer than most brands. I say good riddance.. The time we spend obsessing over a phone, computer, car, right type of clothing would be much better spent meeting and connecting with new people, solving problems, reflecting on life and teaching younger people. I'm starting to sound like a Yogi on an acid trip so I'll end there.
- VladRussian 15y ago
  +1 you as it is true, yet only half of it. This consumerist culture fueled technology development so it become possible for the millions of people also to get excited by, for example, seeing Hubble photos and discussing the screwdup of CERN/Gran Sasso scientists across the world - the details of SR and GR application in this case became normal topic of discussion in wide audiences. >Apple is like the Vatican of consumerism so they are able to sustain this emotional euphoria in their customers for much much longer than most brands. the rest of industry is following them thus driving technology development, wide accessibility and price decrease. It isn't Apple who is to be blamed that human race can move forward only through consumption economy. (Btw, before you object (if) - i come from the country that made huge attempt to move forward bypassing the consumerism and we all know the results of the experiment http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_Union http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_Union . "mladenkovacevic" - if you aren't too young, it sounds like you may be familiar first hand with how it looks like when country tries to bypass the consumerism driver)
  - mladenkovacevic 15y ago
    hello Comrade lol. Yes I am indeed just old enough to remember the old ways. Although, perhaps ours wasn't so much a failed experiment as the Soviet one was. Up until the 1980s when the western countries imposed strict trading restrictions with Yugoslavia (despite our friendly stance towards both the West and the East) my country was an economic power in the region. Wikipedia informs me that our annual GDP growth averaged 6.1 percent, health care was free, literacy was 91 percent, and life expectancy was 72 years. We were simply broken as a casualty of the US effort to overthrow various communist governments in Eastern Europe. It was by no means an organic/natural effect of our socialism being dysfunctional.
    - VladRussian 15y ago
      >It was by no means an organic/natural effect of our socialism being dysfunctional. as in some humor underground song of 70's (written by a musician who traveled internationally with official Soviet Union folk choir) "you can find everything in Yugoslavia - condoms, TVs, clothes, watches - everything, except f&cking socialism " :)

mladenkovacevic 15y ago

I would take that even a step further... The entire consumerist culture is under threat (at least in this hemisphere). Think of how excited you are when you get any new toy (car, brand new jacket, tv, shoes..) and all the euphoria and emotional investment involved in the point and time of purchase. Then you take it home, play with it for a little while and while you realize that this "thing" doesn't completely and fully satisfy you, the excitement fizzles out over time and you go looking for the next high. Apple is like the Vatican of consumerism so they are able to sustain this emotional euphoria in their customers for much much longer than most brands. I say good riddance.. The time we spend obsessing over a phone, computer, car, right type of clothing would be much better spent meeting and connecting with new people, solving problems, reflecting on life and teaching younger people. I'm starting to sound like a Yogi on an acid trip so I'll end there.

VladRussian 15y ago
+1 you as it is true, yet only half of it. This consumerist culture fueled technology development so it become possible for the millions of people also to get excited by, for example, seeing Hubble photos and discussing the screwdup of CERN/Gran Sasso scientists across the world - the details of SR and GR application in this case became normal topic of discussion in wide audiences. >Apple is like the Vatican of consumerism so they are able to sustain this emotional euphoria in their customers for much much longer than most brands. the rest of industry is following them thus driving technology development, wide accessibility and price decrease. It isn't Apple who is to be blamed that human race can move forward only through consumption economy. (Btw, before you object (if) - i come from the country that made huge attempt to move forward bypassing the consumerism and we all know the results of the experiment http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_Union http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_Union . "mladenkovacevic" - if you aren't too young, it sounds like you may be familiar first hand with how it looks like when country tries to bypass the consumerism driver)
- mladenkovacevic 15y ago
  hello Comrade lol. Yes I am indeed just old enough to remember the old ways. Although, perhaps ours wasn't so much a failed experiment as the Soviet one was. Up until the 1980s when the western countries imposed strict trading restrictions with Yugoslavia (despite our friendly stance towards both the West and the East) my country was an economic power in the region. Wikipedia informs me that our annual GDP growth averaged 6.1 percent, health care was free, literacy was 91 percent, and life expectancy was 72 years. We were simply broken as a casualty of the US effort to overthrow various communist governments in Eastern Europe. It was by no means an organic/natural effect of our socialism being dysfunctional.
  - VladRussian 15y ago
    >It was by no means an organic/natural effect of our socialism being dysfunctional. as in some humor underground song of 70's (written by a musician who traveled internationally with official Soviet Union folk choir) "you can find everything in Yugoslavia - condoms, TVs, clothes, watches - everything, except f&cking socialism " :)