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Whereas I am not trying to take anything away from Woz (I’ve never met that Steve, but by all accounts he’s a really nice guy), I can’t help but feel that his p

Whereas I am not trying to take anything away from Woz (I’ve never met that Steve, but by all accounts he’s a really nice guy), I can’t help but feel that his personality and the ethos he espouses have been made a lot more possible by the fact that he had a lot of disposable income…

vdupras 1y ago
Of course, it goes without saying. But on the other side, not many people would have what it take to not let that kind of wealth go to their head. This désinvolture has to be praised.
seydor 1y ago
not a lot of people dispose it
gazpachotron 1y ago
I've been to a lecture he gave, and Q&A session. I was left with no doubt that his ethos of joy and honesty predate his wealth and are entirely independent of it.
- pengaru 1y ago
  > I've been to a lecture he gave, and Q&A session. I was left with no doubt that his ethos of joy and honesty predate his wealth and are entirely independent of it. Don't most young people start life this way? It's the influences of time spent in the rat race and a society fighting for scraps that beats it out of us. I find those who struck it rich early and still turned out assholes more noteworthy.
  - achenet 1y ago
    I started life in a family where money was often an issue, and it did give me some issues with it, which my chill dev job has actually helped me get over (I feel rich, so I'm generous). So sometimes it's the opposite, you start out needy and the 'rat race' actually brings you to a more abundant world-view :)
  - chaps 1y ago
    Noteworthy in what way, exactly?
    - pengaru 1y ago
      > Noteworthy in what way, exactly? Being kind to others costs something, the wealthy can inherently afford it. When they're still assholes it seems dysfunctional to me, like these folks are actively aspiring to be jerks. What a strange path to choose, when you have so many options at your disposal.
      - esafak 1y ago
        You said it costs something; getting along with other people, at least. They can afford not to do that.
paulpauper 1y ago
but he also had to live with having sold apple stock far too soon. Not that he cares that much .
underlipton 1y ago
I do wonder if the relative ease he might have had with his craft early on contributed, too. He doesn't strike me as someone who's ever really struggled to learn or produce, just met a steady stream of interesting, surmountable challenges (and was blessed to be able to eschew anything that would have been troublesome). Such a combination of prodigious talent and a keen awareness of where it ends probably makes for a pretty happy existence.
tchalla 1y ago
“Money isn’t everything in life but before you say that make sure you have enough money”
- bsimpson 1y ago
  "They say money can't buy happiness. It buys a Sea-Doo. You ever seen a sad person on a Sea-Doo?" - Daniel Tosh
  - tchalla 1y ago
    I don’t know Daniel Tosh or what Sea-Doo. Can you explain this quote to me in like plain English where I don’t have to search something?
    - orthoxerox 1y ago
      Also called an aquabike or a jetski.
      - spacedcowboy 1y ago
        I was going to complain about the baby-talk naming system, but frankly I’m not sure the others are much better…
        dcrazy 1y ago
        Sea-Doo is a derivative of Ski-Doo. Both are made by Bombardier Recreational Products; the Sea-Doo is a “personal watercraft,” and the Ski-Doo is a snowmobile. The Ski-Doo came first, and I’m guessing the name is a pun on “twenty-three skidoo”, which Wikipedia says originally referred to “leaving quickly”, something like “skedaddle”. Obviously, a snowmobile allows one to travel quickly over the snow. So the etymology appears to be Skedaddle -> 23 Skidoo -> Ski-Doo -> Sea-Doo. (Edit: I’m wrong! Wikipedia says the Ski-Doo was originally supposed to be called the “Ski-Dog”, but someone made a typo and they stuck with it! So much for my attempt to reconstruct a derivation!) Jet Ski is also a trademark used by Kawasaki for their personal watercraft. It was designed by the same guy who designed the Sea-Doo for Bombardier.
antithesizer 1y ago
"While" not "whereas"
- spacedcowboy 1y ago
  Perhaps. I think it’s perfectly correct English, personally. If you’re American then your grammar rules might differ, I don’t know… “Whereas” can be used at the start of a sentence to introduce two contrasting clauses - in this case the first being his own statement, and the second being my rather more cynical money-based reasoning for his continuing wonderful personality.
geodel 1y ago
Of course. And he mentioned as such having multiple houses and USD 10M in accounts. There is no gotcha here.
- FirmwareBurner 1y ago
  Yep. It's easy to be happy, bubbly, carefree and say money is not important to to you when you're set for life and don't ever have to worry about paying the mortgage, healthcare, childcare, bills, etc in one of the most expensive regions on the planet, but people without seven figures in the bank might disagree. Sure, he's not Musk, Bezos or Zuckerberg levels of rich, but compared to average folk who need to work for a living till retirement, he's still very, VERY rich.
  - zer0zzz 1y ago
    I think that’s missing the point. This isn’t about glorifying being poor but understanding when enough is enough.
  - rwmj 1y ago
    Set for life level of wealth (say, $2-3m) is achievable on a programmer's salary or for someone working in finance, and after only a decade or two of work. You just have to save and invest most of your salary instead of spending it all.
    - herval 1y ago
      Is that really “set for life” amounts in the US these days? Sounds quite low. I can imagine it being a ton of money in the early 2000s, but not these days (unless you also have a fully paid out house on top of it, at least)
      - jebarker 1y ago
        It depends where you live and what your lifestyle expenses are. You can easily be set for most of your life on $3M if you live in a low CoL area and keep your expenses under control. Old age could wipe you out if you need a lot of care though.
esalman 1y ago
> his personality and the ethos he espouses We have to remember that it is a choice.
dyauspitr 1y ago
Of course, for most regular people money buys happiness.
krupan 1y ago
Wrong. Sorry, but totally, completely wrong. 99% of people with the kind of money he has are nowhere near as happy as him. Many "poor" people are just as happy as him. The kind of money he has ruins the personal lives of so many people. I've heard him speak a few times and he's been happily married, happily taking care of his dogs, and just spreading joy and enthusiasm wherever he goes for years and years now. That doesn't require a lot of money at all. I worked at Fusion-io and he was sort of an employee there early on. We opened a tiny office in San Jose and he sat there and basically worked as a receptionist at that office for a while, just happily greeting people as they came and went. He's just a chill dude without pretension.
- gls2ro 1y ago
  I think we should compare the two sides in percentage and reason: How many people as percentage from the wealthy people are really unhappy and not just saying so because of (insert here guilt, peer pressure, fear of losing it all …) How many people as percentage from the poor people are happy (and not just saying so because they are trying to cope mentally with their helplessness situation) And I know that all this points to mindset. So lets ask the real question: On average how easy (as in having time, access, …) is to fix your mindset (whatever that fix is) when you are healthy or poor?
layman51 1y ago
Maybe, but recently I came across an article where he had reached out to scam victims who fell prey to scammers who used AI to copy Woz's likeness to dupe people into depositing cryptocurrency so that they could get it much more of it back. It's a classic scam that would have almost anyone blaming the victims for falling for it. But what was touching is that Woz had read some emails from victims who were confused. I think almost anyone would have ignored it, but he decided to at least try to fix it by filing a lawsuit on behalf of victims. I think the lawsuit ended up getting stuck since the scam relies on shady ads on YouTube. But I thought it was cool that at least he tried arguing that it is weird that scammers can make ads that impersonate others and it takes quite a while for them to get taken down.
thr0waway001 1y ago
yes that's true, but the but the guy had every opportunity to become a soulless money grubbing prick with hundreds of millions (or maybe even billions) instead of just tens of millions if he didn't have a good sense of compassion and generosity. But at some point he decided he had enough money and success and that it was important for other people who had been with Apple to get their fair share. In other words, he was a kind soul before the money and the success. The money and the success did not change him, but in fact, amplified his generosity and other good qualities. And to this day he remains a warm charismatic pioneer of Silicon Valley. Jobs, on the other hand, boy that guy was selfish to the bone, and though he was not as money hungry as other CEOs, the success really amplified his ugliest traits that allowed him to treat people as disposable including his own friend Wozniak. Worst thing he ever did, if you ask me, was deny his daughter Lisa even when he had the means to give her mother and his daughter a better life. He seemed spiteful in principle. I understand being skeptical at first about being alleged as the father of a kid, especially while you're trying to make it early on in your career, but after the paternity test proves you're the dad, and you have the means to provide, and you still don't then you are trash.

vdupras 1y ago

Of course, it goes without saying. But on the other side, not many people would have what it take to not let that kind of wealth go to their head. This désinvolture has to be praised.

seydor 1y ago

not a lot of people dispose it

gazpachotron 1y ago

I've been to a lecture he gave, and Q&A session. I was left with no doubt that his ethos of joy and honesty predate his wealth and are entirely independent of it.

pengaru 1y ago
> I've been to a lecture he gave, and Q&A session. I was left with no doubt that his ethos of joy and honesty predate his wealth and are entirely independent of it. Don't most young people start life this way? It's the influences of time spent in the rat race and a society fighting for scraps that beats it out of us. I find those who struck it rich early and still turned out assholes more noteworthy.
- achenet 1y ago
  I started life in a family where money was often an issue, and it did give me some issues with it, which my chill dev job has actually helped me get over (I feel rich, so I'm generous). So sometimes it's the opposite, you start out needy and the 'rat race' actually brings you to a more abundant world-view :)
- chaps 1y ago
  Noteworthy in what way, exactly?
  - pengaru 1y ago
    > Noteworthy in what way, exactly? Being kind to others costs something, the wealthy can inherently afford it. When they're still assholes it seems dysfunctional to me, like these folks are actively aspiring to be jerks. What a strange path to choose, when you have so many options at your disposal.
    - esafak 1y ago
      You said it costs something; getting along with other people, at least. They can afford not to do that.

paulpauper 1y ago

but he also had to live with having sold apple stock far too soon. Not that he cares that much .

underlipton 1y ago

I do wonder if the relative ease he might have had with his craft early on contributed, too. He doesn't strike me as someone who's ever really struggled to learn or produce, just met a steady stream of interesting, surmountable challenges (and was blessed to be able to eschew anything that would have been troublesome). Such a combination of prodigious talent and a keen awareness of where it ends probably makes for a pretty happy existence.

tchalla 1y ago

“Money isn’t everything in life but before you say that make sure you have enough money”

bsimpson 1y ago
"They say money can't buy happiness. It buys a Sea-Doo. You ever seen a sad person on a Sea-Doo?" - Daniel Tosh
- tchalla 1y ago
  I don’t know Daniel Tosh or what Sea-Doo. Can you explain this quote to me in like plain English where I don’t have to search something?
  - orthoxerox 1y ago
    Also called an aquabike or a jetski.
    - spacedcowboy 1y ago
      I was going to complain about the baby-talk naming system, but frankly I’m not sure the others are much better…
      - dcrazy 1y ago
        Sea-Doo is a derivative of Ski-Doo. Both are made by Bombardier Recreational Products; the Sea-Doo is a “personal watercraft,” and the Ski-Doo is a snowmobile. The Ski-Doo came first, and I’m guessing the name is a pun on “twenty-three skidoo”, which Wikipedia says originally referred to “leaving quickly”, something like “skedaddle”. Obviously, a snowmobile allows one to travel quickly over the snow. So the etymology appears to be Skedaddle -> 23 Skidoo -> Ski-Doo -> Sea-Doo. (Edit: I’m wrong! Wikipedia says the Ski-Doo was originally supposed to be called the “Ski-Dog”, but someone made a typo and they stuck with it! So much for my attempt to reconstruct a derivation!) Jet Ski is also a trademark used by Kawasaki for their personal watercraft. It was designed by the same guy who designed the Sea-Doo for Bombardier.

antithesizer 1y ago

"While" not "whereas"

spacedcowboy 1y ago
Perhaps. I think it’s perfectly correct English, personally. If you’re American then your grammar rules might differ, I don’t know… “Whereas” can be used at the start of a sentence to introduce two contrasting clauses - in this case the first being his own statement, and the second being my rather more cynical money-based reasoning for his continuing wonderful personality.

geodel 1y ago

Of course. And he mentioned as such having multiple houses and USD 10M in accounts. There is no gotcha here.

FirmwareBurner 1y ago
Yep. It's easy to be happy, bubbly, carefree and say money is not important to to you when you're set for life and don't ever have to worry about paying the mortgage, healthcare, childcare, bills, etc in one of the most expensive regions on the planet, but people without seven figures in the bank might disagree. Sure, he's not Musk, Bezos or Zuckerberg levels of rich, but compared to average folk who need to work for a living till retirement, he's still very, VERY rich.
- zer0zzz 1y ago
  I think that’s missing the point. This isn’t about glorifying being poor but understanding when enough is enough.
- rwmj 1y ago
  Set for life level of wealth (say, $2-3m) is achievable on a programmer's salary or for someone working in finance, and after only a decade or two of work. You just have to save and invest most of your salary instead of spending it all.
  - herval 1y ago
    Is that really “set for life” amounts in the US these days? Sounds quite low. I can imagine it being a ton of money in the early 2000s, but not these days (unless you also have a fully paid out house on top of it, at least)
    - jebarker 1y ago
      It depends where you live and what your lifestyle expenses are. You can easily be set for most of your life on $3M if you live in a low CoL area and keep your expenses under control. Old age could wipe you out if you need a lot of care though.

esalman 1y ago

> his personality and the ethos he espouses We have to remember that it is a choice.

dyauspitr 1y ago

Of course, for most regular people money buys happiness.

krupan 1y ago

Wrong. Sorry, but totally, completely wrong. 99% of people with the kind of money he has are nowhere near as happy as him. Many "poor" people are just as happy as him. The kind of money he has ruins the personal lives of so many people. I've heard him speak a few times and he's been happily married, happily taking care of his dogs, and just spreading joy and enthusiasm wherever he goes for years and years now. That doesn't require a lot of money at all. I worked at Fusion-io and he was sort of an employee there early on. We opened a tiny office in San Jose and he sat there and basically worked as a receptionist at that office for a while, just happily greeting people as they came and went. He's just a chill dude without pretension.

gls2ro 1y ago
I think we should compare the two sides in percentage and reason: How many people as percentage from the wealthy people are really unhappy and not just saying so because of (insert here guilt, peer pressure, fear of losing it all …) How many people as percentage from the poor people are happy (and not just saying so because they are trying to cope mentally with their helplessness situation) And I know that all this points to mindset. So lets ask the real question: On average how easy (as in having time, access, …) is to fix your mindset (whatever that fix is) when you are healthy or poor?

layman51 1y ago

Maybe, but recently I came across an article where he had reached out to scam victims who fell prey to scammers who used AI to copy Woz's likeness to dupe people into depositing cryptocurrency so that they could get it much more of it back. It's a classic scam that would have almost anyone blaming the victims for falling for it. But what was touching is that Woz had read some emails from victims who were confused. I think almost anyone would have ignored it, but he decided to at least try to fix it by filing a lawsuit on behalf of victims. I think the lawsuit ended up getting stuck since the scam relies on shady ads on YouTube. But I thought it was cool that at least he tried arguing that it is weird that scammers can make ads that impersonate others and it takes quite a while for them to get taken down.

thr0waway001 1y ago

yes that's true, but the but the guy had every opportunity to become a soulless money grubbing prick with hundreds of millions (or maybe even billions) instead of just tens of millions if he didn't have a good sense of compassion and generosity. But at some point he decided he had enough money and success and that it was important for other people who had been with Apple to get their fair share. In other words, he was a kind soul before the money and the success. The money and the success did not change him, but in fact, amplified his generosity and other good qualities. And to this day he remains a warm charismatic pioneer of Silicon Valley. Jobs, on the other hand, boy that guy was selfish to the bone, and though he was not as money hungry as other CEOs, the success really amplified his ugliest traits that allowed him to treat people as disposable including his own friend Wozniak. Worst thing he ever did, if you ask me, was deny his daughter Lisa even when he had the means to give her mother and his daughter a better life. He seemed spiteful in principle. I understand being skeptical at first about being alleged as the father of a kid, especially while you're trying to make it early on in your career, but after the paternity test proves you're the dad, and you have the means to provide, and you still don't then you are trash.