4 ms·

Why Steve Jobs and not the Apple II? Or even the iPhone? Alternatively why not Seymour Cray instead of the Cray-1? Or why not use one side for the inventor a

Why Steve Jobs and not the Apple II? Or even the iPhone? Alternatively why not Seymour Cray instead of the Cray-1? Or why not use one side for the inventor and the other side for the invention? Jobs sitting there in an empty field just throws the whole set for me.

ahoka 1y ago
The title was editorialized and not accurate. These are two separate coins celebrating innovations in their respectable states.
- Thorrez 1y ago
  Sure. But why does one coin have a person and the other have an invention? Why not inventions for both or people for both?
  - card_zero 1y ago
    America invented the Steve Jobs, now ubiquitous around the world.
    - microtherion 1y ago
      You could argue that Steve Jobs was a product of very Californian circumstances: Born to parents of very different cultural backgrounds, raised in a hotbed of electronics development (and new age spirituality), started a company in an area full of enthusiasts and venture capitalists…
      - Waterluvian 1y ago
        Maybe California should put him on their dollar coin then.
        johnnyanmac 1y ago
        He is, in the link above. And the cray-1 is for Wisconsin. For completeness, mobike refrigeration is for Minnesota and Dr. Normal Bourlag is for Iowa
        mrandish 1y ago
        > Dr. Normal Bourlag is for Iowa Bourlag's work directly saved millions of lives. Out of those mentioned so far, he's one that truly deserves more name recognition.
  - kingkawn 1y ago
    bc theyre going for the aspect of the innovation that the most people in the relevant political constituencies will recognize. in some cases the inventor, in others the invention.
  - gk1 1y ago
    Probably decided by committee and a subcommittee for each state. So you end up with inconsistent decisions between states.
  - bluGill 1y ago
    Jobs did a lot of useful things, but he was not an inventor and so has nothing to show. He was really good at forcing people to perfect the inventions of others which is a useful thing. Cray-1 is an invention, and better known than the inventor. So it is the right decision for both. You can of course debate which is better and there are hundreds of other choices that could be put on either coin - both humans and inventions. I would probably pick different things (not people) for both - but this is a reflection of my biases and not some universal truth.
    - skeeter2020 1y ago
      The intent here is to get people's attention, and an arguement over "which is best" is exactly the outcome desired. I won't step into it except to say regardless of the subject and reasoning, the design of the Jobs one is pretty dumb. It looks like the gave a prompt focused on hippy-spirtual-big-thinker to AI and said "design a coin".
    - Aloha 1y ago
      Jobs was arguably the first product manager in personal computing - meaning he had a clear vision for the consumer and product and worked to carry that out.
pk-protect-ai 1y ago
Why not Wozniak (probably still alive), or Shannon (I'd vote for him), Convey, Knut, Reed, Solomon, Thompson, Ritchie, Kernighan, etc? Why it is a CEO? Why Jobs and Edison? It is just how it is...
- voidUpdate 1y ago
  I don't think you're allowed to have living people on a US coin
  - crummy 1y ago
    guess they can make exceptions https://edition.cnn.com/2025/10/03/business/trump-coin-treasurer-250-anniversary https://edition.cnn.com/2025/10/03/business/trump-coin-treas...
    - fabioborellini 1y ago
      He is dead inside
    - TowerTall 1y ago
      Not so much an exception but a work around according to the guardian newspaper [1]: [...] the law specifically says “no head and shoulders portrait or bust of any person, living or dead, and no portrait of a living person may be included in the design on the reverse of any coin “created to mark the US anniversary”. The proposed design features a wider illustration of Trump on the reverse side, a move that legal experts said would fall outside the ban on a “head and shoulders portrait or bust”. [1] https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/03/trump-coin-treasury https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/03/trump-coin-t...
    - classified 1y ago
      [flagged]
      - technothrasher 1y ago
Suffocate5100 1y ago
I would've been happy with the picture of Steve and Woz in the garage.
- johnnyanmac 1y ago
  Woz is still alive, so that wouldn't be possible yet. But I do agree.

ahoka 1y ago

The title was editorialized and not accurate. These are two separate coins celebrating innovations in their respectable states.

Thorrez 1y ago
Sure. But why does one coin have a person and the other have an invention? Why not inventions for both or people for both?
- card_zero 1y ago
  America invented the Steve Jobs, now ubiquitous around the world.
  - microtherion 1y ago
    You could argue that Steve Jobs was a product of very Californian circumstances: Born to parents of very different cultural backgrounds, raised in a hotbed of electronics development (and new age spirituality), started a company in an area full of enthusiasts and venture capitalists…
    - Waterluvian 1y ago
      Maybe California should put him on their dollar coin then.
      - johnnyanmac 1y ago
        He is, in the link above. And the cray-1 is for Wisconsin. For completeness, mobike refrigeration is for Minnesota and Dr. Normal Bourlag is for Iowa
        mrandish 1y ago
        > Dr. Normal Bourlag is for Iowa Bourlag's work directly saved millions of lives. Out of those mentioned so far, he's one that truly deserves more name recognition.
- kingkawn 1y ago
  bc theyre going for the aspect of the innovation that the most people in the relevant political constituencies will recognize. in some cases the inventor, in others the invention.
- gk1 1y ago
  Probably decided by committee and a subcommittee for each state. So you end up with inconsistent decisions between states.
- bluGill 1y ago
  Jobs did a lot of useful things, but he was not an inventor and so has nothing to show. He was really good at forcing people to perfect the inventions of others which is a useful thing. Cray-1 is an invention, and better known than the inventor. So it is the right decision for both. You can of course debate which is better and there are hundreds of other choices that could be put on either coin - both humans and inventions. I would probably pick different things (not people) for both - but this is a reflection of my biases and not some universal truth.
  - skeeter2020 1y ago
    The intent here is to get people's attention, and an arguement over "which is best" is exactly the outcome desired. I won't step into it except to say regardless of the subject and reasoning, the design of the Jobs one is pretty dumb. It looks like the gave a prompt focused on hippy-spirtual-big-thinker to AI and said "design a coin".
  - Aloha 1y ago
    Jobs was arguably the first product manager in personal computing - meaning he had a clear vision for the consumer and product and worked to carry that out.

pk-protect-ai 1y ago

Why not Wozniak (probably still alive), or Shannon (I'd vote for him), Convey, Knut, Reed, Solomon, Thompson, Ritchie, Kernighan, etc? Why it is a CEO? Why Jobs and Edison? It is just how it is...

voidUpdate 1y ago
I don't think you're allowed to have living people on a US coin
- crummy 1y ago
  guess they can make exceptions https://edition.cnn.com/2025/10/03/business/trump-coin-treasurer-250-anniversary https://edition.cnn.com/2025/10/03/business/trump-coin-treas...
  - fabioborellini 1y ago
    He is dead inside
  - TowerTall 1y ago
    Not so much an exception but a work around according to the guardian newspaper [1]: [...] the law specifically says “no head and shoulders portrait or bust of any person, living or dead, and no portrait of a living person may be included in the design on the reverse of any coin “created to mark the US anniversary”. The proposed design features a wider illustration of Trump on the reverse side, a move that legal experts said would fall outside the ban on a “head and shoulders portrait or bust”. [1] https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/03/trump-coin-treasury https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/03/trump-coin-t...
  - classified 1y ago
    [flagged]
    - technothrasher 1y ago

Suffocate5100 1y ago

I would've been happy with the picture of Steve and Woz in the garage.

johnnyanmac 1y ago
Woz is still alive, so that wouldn't be possible yet. But I do agree.