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Not that this diminishes the truth those words speak, but I’m very cautious not to deify people in this manner. Countless people have said and preached similar

Not that this diminishes the truth those words speak, but I’m very cautious not to deify people in this manner. Countless people have said and preached similar kinds of rhetoric at places of worship every week, and then go and lead a life contrary to their lessons. Trying to make a big deal out of Jobs emailing himself these phrases feels like a bit much. But there’s an opportunity not to talk about Jobs but to talk about those phrases.

odyssey7 3y ago
It aligns the email with the tradition of Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations, which were originally private notes for the author’s own purposes. However, Jobs was a public figure who likely anticipated that his private emails would become a part of his legacy.
- dandellion 3y ago
  Or maybe Steve left his computer unlocked when going to the bathroom, and a ninja that was hiding in his house then wrote the email without him noticing.
colechristensen 3y ago
Reminding oneself about things like this is an indication that these are things one needs to be reminded of... acknowledging weaknesses, but having them as well. I could think of a few things that I should be reminding myself of, but, for example "thou shall not steal" isn't one of them. Going out shoplifting isn't something that even occurs to me, but some people might need that. >lead a life contrary to their lessons My point being, writing a message like this to yourself is a strong indication of self-knowledge. These are the lessons I need to learn, the things I need to be reminded of. This wasn't someone preaching all of these things to others, but privately reminding themselves. The general in a triumph needs the memento mori.
freedomben 3y ago
I agree, the tendency to deify Jobs (or any other human) is unhealthy and one of my least favorite traits of humanity. As much as we humans don't like to consider our close relation to other primates, we definitely do still have the heavy instincts of identifying and following dominant personalities, and thinking of them as god-like in some ways. It might be futile to try to fight againt instinct/nature but I have to hope that we can use our advanced reasoning ability to progress as a species beyond this silliness.
- medvezhenok 3y ago
  A quarter of people are authoritarian by nature, this baseline percentage hasn't really changed through the years (although it can vary up or down a bit due to circumstances - a lot more people would find themselves in that camp immediately after 9/11, for example). Technology is not going to do much because people are not blank slates as much as we like to believe otherwise; it's genetically built in. So unless we propose to drug people/alter their DNA, authoritarians will still predominantly exist. Better give those people a benign / benevolent version of a role model than leave it up to chance.

odyssey7 3y ago

It aligns the email with the tradition of Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations, which were originally private notes for the author’s own purposes. However, Jobs was a public figure who likely anticipated that his private emails would become a part of his legacy.

dandellion 3y ago
Or maybe Steve left his computer unlocked when going to the bathroom, and a ninja that was hiding in his house then wrote the email without him noticing.

colechristensen 3y ago

Reminding oneself about things like this is an indication that these are things one needs to be reminded of... acknowledging weaknesses, but having them as well. I could think of a few things that I should be reminding myself of, but, for example "thou shall not steal" isn't one of them. Going out shoplifting isn't something that even occurs to me, but some people might need that. >lead a life contrary to their lessons My point being, writing a message like this to yourself is a strong indication of self-knowledge. These are the lessons I need to learn, the things I need to be reminded of. This wasn't someone preaching all of these things to others, but privately reminding themselves. The general in a triumph needs the memento mori.

freedomben 3y ago

I agree, the tendency to deify Jobs (or any other human) is unhealthy and one of my least favorite traits of humanity. As much as we humans don't like to consider our close relation to other primates, we definitely do still have the heavy instincts of identifying and following dominant personalities, and thinking of them as god-like in some ways. It might be futile to try to fight againt instinct/nature but I have to hope that we can use our advanced reasoning ability to progress as a species beyond this silliness.

medvezhenok 3y ago
A quarter of people are authoritarian by nature, this baseline percentage hasn't really changed through the years (although it can vary up or down a bit due to circumstances - a lot more people would find themselves in that camp immediately after 9/11, for example). Technology is not going to do much because people are not blank slates as much as we like to believe otherwise; it's genetically built in. So unless we propose to drug people/alter their DNA, authoritarians will still predominantly exist. Better give those people a benign / benevolent version of a role model than leave it up to chance.