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The Story of Steve Jobs: An Inspiration or a Cautionary Tale?

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Re: The Story of Steve Jobs: An Inspiration or a Cautionary Tale?

#101

Post by nacker »

No one said it better than RMS:

    “Steve Jobs, the pioneer of the computer as a jail made cool, designed to sever fools from their freedom, has died.

    As Chicago Mayor Harold Washington said of the corrupt former Mayor Daley, “I’m not glad he’s dead, but I’m glad he’s gone.” Nobody deserves to have to die – not Jobs, not Mr. Bill, not even people guilty of bigger evils than theirs. But we all deserve the end of Jobs’ malign influence on people’s computing.

    Unfortunately, that influence continues despite his absence. We can only hope his successors, as they attempt to carry on his legacy, will be less effective.”

Re: The Story of Steve Jobs: An Inspiration or a Cautionary Tale?

#102

Post by gruseom »

s_baby wrote: post #100
gruseom wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While it may be the case that many Western Buddhists have found a way to merge Buddhism and selfishness, I'm pretty sure that this is a modern and specifically Western distortion of Buddhist teachings. At least I haven't found anything like that in the Buddhist sutras I've read. On the contrary, to the extent that the self appears there at all, it is to be effaced.

>On the contrary, to the extent that the self appears there at all, it is to be effaced. Within the context of Theravada. Mahayana embraces the "small" self. All Buddhist acts of compassion are anchored in self-interest. Just how you caring for your family is simultaneously compassionate and self-serving. Just how we try to create real "value" through meritocracy Buddhism preaches giving and skillful means. The overl…

I am skeptical of this as it gets applied in consumerist Western societies. It's all too easy to become the same ego you were before, only now with a spiritual varnish. In my observation, there is a lot of rationalization around this. When you have no roots in a tradition, it's easy to twist it to be whatever you feel it should be. Typically it turns into an accoutrement. George Westerholm brilliantly summarized this as "Does Taoism make me look fat?"

Re: The Story of Steve Jobs: An Inspiration or a Cautionary Tale?

#103

Post by eropple »

DannyBee wrote: post #87
eropple wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only if you don't differentiate "sounds like" and "are appealing in the same way." If you don't, having a conversation about this will be fruitless.

So now i'm wildly curious. This makes it sound like you don't just choose to listen to certain music because you like the sound of that music. Why else is music appealing except because of how it sounds?

I think this is best explained through example: let's take Bad Religion vs. Pennywise. A large part of Bad Religion's appeal to me is that Greg Graffin and Brett Gurewitz are fantastic writers. Their lyrics are interesting (on an intellectual as well as a musical level), well done, and (time to touch the third rail!) often have a political point that I generally agree with and appreciate.

Pennywise (during their "sounds like Bad Religion" phase) does indeed sound like Bad Religion, but their lyrical work is crap. I actively dislike listening to them because they sound like Bad Religion but aren't good at what they do. They sound similar but go in the "pop shit" bucket while Bad Religion goes in the "good punk rock" bucket.

.

Pandora can't quantify that sort of thing. They sound very similar but one of them is uninteresting-to-repellent. If I could find a music recommendation system that could, I'd pay it approximately all the money. As it is, Pandora is pretty crap; I can burn through my allotted skips in five minutes of listening because every station.

Hat-tip to a friend of mine who pointed this one out: Pandora also converges on the pop flavor of whatever genre you want to listen to. Industrial? I hope you like Nine Inch Nails. Synth/futurepop? New Order and Depeche Mode.

Re: The Story of Steve Jobs: An Inspiration or a Cautionary Tale?

#104

Post by s_baby »

gruseom wrote: post #102
s_baby wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>On the contrary, to the extent that the self appears there at all, it is to be effaced. Within the context of Theravada. Mahayana embraces the "small" self. All Buddhist acts of compassion are anchored in self-interest. Just how you caring for your family is simultaneously compassionate and self-serving. Just how we try to create real "value" through meritocracy Buddhism preaches giving and skillful means. The overl…

I am skeptical of this as it gets applied in consumerist Western societies. It's all too easy to become the same ego you were before, only now with a spiritual varnish. In my observation, there is a lot of rationalization around this. When you have no roots in a tradition, it's easy to twist it to be whatever you feel it should be. Typically it turns into an accoutrement. George Westerholm brilliantly summarized this…

>It's all too easy to become the same ego you were before, only now with a spiritual varnish. In my observation, there is a lot of rationalization around this.

Can you think of anything more self-centered and intoxicating then conflating your ego with the "Ground of Being". Narcissism is the cliche sticking point of westerners. Than again Westernized lineages systematically address this. Mondo Zen being a good example.[1]

Historically, Buddhism doesn't export cultural context. It embeds itself in what is already there. Zen exists along side Shinto. Tibetan Buddhism envelopes the local shamanic beliefs. Trying to export the cultural context of Tibet or Japan to the West is a mistake.

[1] http://www.mondozen.org/

Re: The Story of Steve Jobs: An Inspiration or a Cautionary Tale?

#105

Post by smsm42 »

crag wrote: post #82
smsm42 wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Self-made man doesn't mean nobody did anything for you. If an olympic athlete wins a race, he didn't build the stadium, didn't sew his uniforms and shoes, didn't grow and squeeze his morning juice drink with his own hands, didn't build the car he used to get to the stadium and didn't personally extract the oil and made it into the gasoline to power his vehicle. All these things are done by other people. That does not…

" If an olympic athlete wins a race, he didn't build the stadium, didn't sew his uniforms and shoes, didn't grow and squeeze his morning juice drink with his own hands," Ahh, but he had a coach/trainer. And financial backing - allowing him to buy the equipment and travel that was need to compete. No one lives in a vacuum. No one.

This is true, but also so banal as to be meaningless. Yes, nobody lives in vacuum. So what? Yes, people hire other people to help them to achieve their goals - however, being paid by somebody does not automatically entitle you to be part of every achievement that they payer reaches since the moment of service. Sometimes there's a relationship that does imply common achievement - like trainer/athlete or mentor/mentee or teacher/student - sometimes it may go beyond mere trading of service in exchange for money. But this is a special case which definitely does not apply to any service and transaction, it is usually unique and develops over a long time. Saying that just because there's a network of people and services that surrounds us they all have claims on our achievements doesn't make much sense.

Re: The Story of Steve Jobs: An Inspiration or a Cautionary Tale?

#106

Post by VinzO »

pooriaazimi wrote: post #97
VinzO wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you recommend a good book about pixar?

"Pixar Touch"[1] is fantastic. Highly recommended. Also, the 2007 documentary about Pixar ("The Pixar Story"[2]) is well worth a watch - Extremely well done. There's a shorter, 23 minute mini-documantary about Pixar Shorts ("The Pixar Shorts, A Short History"[3]) that I also enjoyed. [1]: http://www.amazon.com/The-Pixar-Touch-Making-Company/dp/1400... and http://www.pixartouchbook.com/ [2]: http://www.imdb.com/title/…

Thanks, i will have a look at this

Re: The Story of Steve Jobs: An Inspiration or a Cautionary Tale?

#107

Post by vectorpush »

eropple wrote: post #103
DannyBee wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So now i'm wildly curious. This makes it sound like you don't just choose to listen to certain music because you like the sound of that music. Why else is music appealing except because of how it sounds?

I think this is best explained through example: let's take Bad Religion vs. Pennywise. A large part of Bad Religion's appeal to me is that Greg Graffin and Brett Gurewitz are fantastic writers. Their lyrics are interesting (on an intellectual as well as a musical level), well done, and (time to touch the third rail!) often have a political point that I generally agree with and appreciate. Pennywise (during their "sou…

"Reminds me of what happens when I visit that restaurant. Instead of serving a bunch of food I like, that restaurant gives me a bunch of food that tastes like food that I like."

Re: The Story of Steve Jobs: An Inspiration or a Cautionary Tale?

#108

Post by eropple »

vectorpush wrote: post #107
eropple wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is best explained through example: let's take Bad Religion vs. Pennywise. A large part of Bad Religion's appeal to me is that Greg Graffin and Brett Gurewitz are fantastic writers. Their lyrics are interesting (on an intellectual as well as a musical level), well done, and (time to touch the third rail!) often have a political point that I generally agree with and appreciate. Pennywise (during their "sou…

"Reminds me of what happens when I visit that restaurant. Instead of serving a bunch of food I like, that restaurant gives me a bunch of food that tastes like food that I like."

I mean no disrespect when I say this: if you are unable to perceive the subleties of which I'm writing, I feel pretty sorry for you. There are differences within genres of music that Pandora can't quantify (yes, Bad Religion and Pennywise are different) and Pandora very obviously attempts to quantize listening preferences toward the most popular examples of a given genre.

(Your analogy is pretty weak, too, because those subleties exist within food as well; a Pandora-for-food would give you wet Memphis barbecue because you liked dry, and would steadfastly refuse to stop serving you wet barbecue no matter how many times you clicked the down-fork.)

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