10 ms·

Steve Jobs’ Philosophy of Life

24 points by zealoushacker 15y ago

enemieslist 15y ago
Does it seem odd to anyone else to position Jobs as an Objectivist in line with Rand's ethics when he was avowedly a Buddhist? Not everyone who makes stuff and cares about quality control is an "ethical egoist," or whatever you call it.
- zealoushacker 15y ago
  > Not everyone who makes stuff and cares about quality control is an "ethical egoist," or whatever you call it. I agree. But, Steve Jobs was indeed an ethical egoist in words and in actions. I think this statement alone, supported by his entire life's work, testifies to his having been an "ethical egoist": “Don’t be trapped by dogma—which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice.” -Steve Jobs (2005 Stanford Commencement Address) or this: "Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle." -Steve Jobs, Stanford Address I think that Craig Biddle's conclusions are correct - whether or not Jobs himself ever said he was or wasn't an Objectivist. FYI, have you seen this interview with Woz: http://www.bloomberg.com/video/74391682/#ooid=8xMWJyMjoT9XMTeW4oIZemoYVX1n4cfz http://www.bloomberg.com/video/74391682/#ooid=8xMWJyMjoT9XMT... Around 9:00: "STEVE WOZNIAK: …And he did want to have a successful company, and he had a lot of ideas. He must’ve read some books that really were his guide in life, you know, and I think… Well, Atlas Shrugged might’ve been one of them that he mentioned back then. But they were his guides in life as to how you make a difference in the world. And it starts with a company. You build products and you gotta make your profit, and that allows you to invest the profit and then make better products that make more profit. I would say, how good a company is, it’s fair to measure it by its profitability." I won't even begin to quote the Think Different(tm) commercial or Jobs' line of reasoning for why Apple did that entire campaign.
- michaelochurch 15y ago
  It does seem odd, especially since objectivists are about as second-handed as it gets. "Objectivism" is not a philosophy; it's a support group in New York for emotionally broken rich people.
  - zealoushacker 15y ago
    What is a philosophy? What makes Objectivists second handers? You are pointing fingers and spouting hyperbole, without an iota of a substantive argument.
  - jwallaceparker 15y ago
    Can you explain how objectivists are second-handed?
    - michaelochurch 15y ago
      Most "objectivists" are intellectually unoriginal. They've taken Ayn Rand's philosophy literally because it sounds good to an adolescent mind and is illustrated with reasonably well-crafted stories, not on any actual merits. One of the most obvious failings of objectivism is that it doesn't even make sense on its own terms. Ayn Rand's "productive elite" had a mix of artists, intellectuals, scientists, and business people in it. Yet objectivism as usually deployed is nothing more than apologism for the existing, status quo, corporate elite: one that houses few intellectuals and no artists. Ayn Rand conflates economic and intellectual excellence despite loads of evidence (in the society we actually have) to the contrary. I would actually prefer socialism to corporate capitalism driven by private-sector social-climbing and bureaucracy. Socialism may tax the most productive in order to feed mediocrities. Ok, fine. Guilty as charged. But the status quo in America is to have mediocrities in positions of incredible power and influence and that's worse.
      - zealoushacker 15y ago
        >Most "objectivists" are intellectually unoriginal. They've taken Ayn Rand's philosophy literally because it sounds good to an adolescent mind and is illustrated with reasonably well-crafted stories, not on any actual merits. Do you realize that some of the leading Objectivist philosophers have studied all other schools of philosophy, can speak about it freely, and understand it deeply? Would you posit that said Objectivist philosophers have adolescent minds? Are you familiar with Mr. John Allison IV? He is an Objectivist and former CEO of BB&T (BB&T Corporation (Branch Banking & Trust) (NYSE: BBT) is an American bank with assets of $157 billion (March 2011)). "Reasonably well crafted stories, with no actual merits"? >Yet objectivism as usually deployed is nothing more than apologism for the existing, status quo, corporate elite: one that houses few intellectuals and no artists You are absolutely wrong and have said nothing factual. No true Objectivist apologizes for the corporate elite - especially if said corporate elite earned its elite status through pandering to government and the status quo. As for artists, are you familiar with, for example: http://www.cordair.com/ http://www.cordair.com/? Would you not call that art? >I would actually prefer socialism to corporate capitalism driven by private-sector social-climbing and bureaucracy. Socialism may tax the most productive in order to feed mediocrities. I would prefer neither - because neither system protects the individual. Both systems eventually fail - one being far more nefarious in its crony and duplicitous ways. At least the Socialists didn't hide what they were after.
- jwallaceparker 15y ago
  I don't think the author tries to position Jobs as an objectivist. The author merely points out that Jobs' creative capabilities and self-reliance serve as a shining example to objectivists. (I am not an objectivist)
jedwhite 15y ago
It seems wrong to me that the post doesn't apparently attribute these quotes (and they are all from the same source) to Steve Jobs' Commencement Address at Stanford in 2005, or say anything about their context.
- zealoushacker 15y ago
  I agree. I would highly suggest pinging the author about that omission.
michaelochurch 15y ago
Steve Jobs was an interesting man who led an unusual and great life, and I have a lot of respect for him for what he's done, but I don't think his "philosophy of life" is very practical for average people. By his late 20s, he was at the point of never having to work again. He could work for fun. This doesn't take anything away from him; he worked very hard and produced excellent products. My point is that what worked for him doesn't work for most people. If you are a person like Steve Jobs in an average position, you're looking at a string of 6- to 12-month jobs and eventual unemployment once your CV looks like Ypres. Once you're independently wealthy and don't have to work anymore, it's a really great idea to de-condition yourself from social climbing and people-pleasing and all the other idiocies that enter life when one has to manage others' perceptions of oneself. In fact, it's necessary to do that if you want to do anything great; otherwise, you'll be mired in mediocrity because that's what most people like and want. But if you're a normal person who has to pay the bills, to throw all of that social stupidity to the wind is putting the cart a bit before the horse. If I have kids, I'm not going to tell them to "follow their dreams" or "do what you love, and everything else will take care of itself". We don't live in a good enough world for that. It's just not practical advice.
- meric 15y ago
  >> If I have kids, I'm not going to tell them to "follow their dreams" or "do what you love, and everything else will take care of itself". We don't live in a good enough world for that. It's just not practical advice. There's more to it than that. If you're going to do something, do it as best as you can, otherwise don't do it so you don't waste your time. To do something as best as you can,... "you have to get it. You have to really grok what it’s all about. It takes a passionate commitment to really thoroughly understand something, chew it up, not just quickly swallow it. Most people don’t take the time to do that." "When you're a carpenter making a beautiful chest of drawers, you're not going to use a piece of plywood on the back, even though it faces the wall and nobody will ever see it. You'll know it's there, so you're going to use a beautiful piece of wood on the back. For you to sleep well at night, the aesthetic, the quality, has to be carried all the way through." So how is this practical? Let's say you're studying a econometrics major in university like I was doing. You know the introductory course's exams will be easy so you skip classes and just cram in the final week. You score 89/100 in the exam. Well good on you, but you didn't really grok what it's all about. You repeat this for the next semester and you score 78/100. Still a good mark, considering you didn't take the time to thoroughly understand it. However, this tactic will stop working once you get into higher level courses, where it depends on your total mastery of the fundamentals. You cannot just "cram" in the final week anymore. I've only recently been able to understand why I was so good in the Engineering part of my "Double Degree in Software Engineering & Commerce", and so bad at the other. I don't spend much time on either's classes and cram only in the final weeks before the exam, but because I spend the time I saved self-learning the bits of engineering that interests me - even though it doesn't match the courses I'm studying, a few semesters down the road all the dots comes together. I didn't self learn anything econometrics related (besides stock trading, some might call it gambling, though) in my time saved from not concentrating on my econometrics classes. I did well at first, but now I am experiencing serious headwind and am not sleeping well at night. This is why I am switching to another commerce major, so I can get another chance to really understand the fundamentals. If I'm going to complete a degree, I am going to (from now on) do it as best as I can. It means I will spend a lot more effort per mark that I will get. But I know I spent the time to throughly understand it. For me to sleep well at night, the quality has to be carried all the way through. I'm sorry if you had to cringe at some of what I wrote, but I felt I had to write it.
padobson 15y ago
"He embraced first-handedness or independent thinking: a primary orientation not toward others’ opinions, but toward reality as you see it." This is such a simple concept, but it is probably the most rarely employed thought process in all of society. Original thoughts are rare and usually lucky. No reason to look down on anyone for being original - there's nothing new under the sun. Independent thinking, however, is far more rare then it has to be.
wallflower 15y ago
"Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever." -Mahatma Gandhi If you are interested in Steve Job's philosophy of life, you may find value in learning about Stoicism. > Montaigne was fond of an ancient drinking game where the members took turns holding up a painting of a corpse inside a coffin and cheered “Drink and be merry for when you’re dead you will look like this.” Emotions like anxiety and fear have their roots in uncertainty and rarely in experience. Anyone who has made a big bet on themselves knows how much energy both states can consume. The solution is to do something about that ignorance. Make yourself familiar with the things, the worst-case scenarios, that you’re afraid of. http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2009/04/13/stoicism-101-a-practical-guide-for-entrepreneurs/ http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2009/04/13/stoicism-101...
teyc 15y ago
http://imgur.com/fEcCZ http://imgur.com/fEcCZ

24 points by zealoushacker 15y ago

Does it seem odd to anyone else to position Jobs as an Objectivist in line with Rand's ethics when he was avowedly a Buddhist? Not everyone who makes stuff and cares about quality control is an "ethical egoist," or whatever you call it.

zealoushacker 15y ago
> Not everyone who makes stuff and cares about quality control is an "ethical egoist," or whatever you call it. I agree. But, Steve Jobs was indeed an ethical egoist in words and in actions. I think this statement alone, supported by his entire life's work, testifies to his having been an "ethical egoist": “Don’t be trapped by dogma—which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice.” -Steve Jobs (2005 Stanford Commencement Address) or this: "Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle." -Steve Jobs, Stanford Address I think that Craig Biddle's conclusions are correct - whether or not Jobs himself ever said he was or wasn't an Objectivist. FYI, have you seen this interview with Woz: http://www.bloomberg.com/video/74391682/#ooid=8xMWJyMjoT9XMTeW4oIZemoYVX1n4cfz http://www.bloomberg.com/video/74391682/#ooid=8xMWJyMjoT9XMT... Around 9:00: "STEVE WOZNIAK: …And he did want to have a successful company, and he had a lot of ideas. He must’ve read some books that really were his guide in life, you know, and I think… Well, Atlas Shrugged might’ve been one of them that he mentioned back then. But they were his guides in life as to how you make a difference in the world. And it starts with a company. You build products and you gotta make your profit, and that allows you to invest the profit and then make better products that make more profit. I would say, how good a company is, it’s fair to measure it by its profitability." I won't even begin to quote the Think Different(tm) commercial or Jobs' line of reasoning for why Apple did that entire campaign.
michaelochurch 15y ago
It does seem odd, especially since objectivists are about as second-handed as it gets. "Objectivism" is not a philosophy; it's a support group in New York for emotionally broken rich people.
- zealoushacker 15y ago
  What is a philosophy? What makes Objectivists second handers? You are pointing fingers and spouting hyperbole, without an iota of a substantive argument.
- jwallaceparker 15y ago
  Can you explain how objectivists are second-handed?
  - michaelochurch 15y ago
    Most "objectivists" are intellectually unoriginal. They've taken Ayn Rand's philosophy literally because it sounds good to an adolescent mind and is illustrated with reasonably well-crafted stories, not on any actual merits. One of the most obvious failings of objectivism is that it doesn't even make sense on its own terms. Ayn Rand's "productive elite" had a mix of artists, intellectuals, scientists, and business people in it. Yet objectivism as usually deployed is nothing more than apologism for the existing, status quo, corporate elite: one that houses few intellectuals and no artists. Ayn Rand conflates economic and intellectual excellence despite loads of evidence (in the society we actually have) to the contrary. I would actually prefer socialism to corporate capitalism driven by private-sector social-climbing and bureaucracy. Socialism may tax the most productive in order to feed mediocrities. Ok, fine. Guilty as charged. But the status quo in America is to have mediocrities in positions of incredible power and influence and that's worse.
    - zealoushacker 15y ago
      >Most "objectivists" are intellectually unoriginal. They've taken Ayn Rand's philosophy literally because it sounds good to an adolescent mind and is illustrated with reasonably well-crafted stories, not on any actual merits. Do you realize that some of the leading Objectivist philosophers have studied all other schools of philosophy, can speak about it freely, and understand it deeply? Would you posit that said Objectivist philosophers have adolescent minds? Are you familiar with Mr. John Allison IV? He is an Objectivist and former CEO of BB&T (BB&T Corporation (Branch Banking & Trust) (NYSE: BBT) is an American bank with assets of $157 billion (March 2011)). "Reasonably well crafted stories, with no actual merits"? >Yet objectivism as usually deployed is nothing more than apologism for the existing, status quo, corporate elite: one that houses few intellectuals and no artists You are absolutely wrong and have said nothing factual. No true Objectivist apologizes for the corporate elite - especially if said corporate elite earned its elite status through pandering to government and the status quo. As for artists, are you familiar with, for example: http://www.cordair.com/ http://www.cordair.com/? Would you not call that art? >I would actually prefer socialism to corporate capitalism driven by private-sector social-climbing and bureaucracy. Socialism may tax the most productive in order to feed mediocrities. I would prefer neither - because neither system protects the individual. Both systems eventually fail - one being far more nefarious in its crony and duplicitous ways. At least the Socialists didn't hide what they were after.
jwallaceparker 15y ago
I don't think the author tries to position Jobs as an objectivist. The author merely points out that Jobs' creative capabilities and self-reliance serve as a shining example to objectivists. (I am not an objectivist)

jedwhite 15y ago

It seems wrong to me that the post doesn't apparently attribute these quotes (and they are all from the same source) to Steve Jobs' Commencement Address at Stanford in 2005, or say anything about their context.

zealoushacker 15y ago
I agree. I would highly suggest pinging the author about that omission.

michaelochurch 15y ago

Steve Jobs was an interesting man who led an unusual and great life, and I have a lot of respect for him for what he's done, but I don't think his "philosophy of life" is very practical for average people. By his late 20s, he was at the point of never having to work again. He could work for fun. This doesn't take anything away from him; he worked very hard and produced excellent products. My point is that what worked for him doesn't work for most people. If you are a person like Steve Jobs in an average position, you're looking at a string of 6- to 12-month jobs and eventual unemployment once your CV looks like Ypres. Once you're independently wealthy and don't have to work anymore, it's a really great idea to de-condition yourself from social climbing and people-pleasing and all the other idiocies that enter life when one has to manage others' perceptions of oneself. In fact, it's necessary to do that if you want to do anything great; otherwise, you'll be mired in mediocrity because that's what most people like and want. But if you're a normal person who has to pay the bills, to throw all of that social stupidity to the wind is putting the cart a bit before the horse. If I have kids, I'm not going to tell them to "follow their dreams" or "do what you love, and everything else will take care of itself". We don't live in a good enough world for that. It's just not practical advice.

meric 15y ago
>> If I have kids, I'm not going to tell them to "follow their dreams" or "do what you love, and everything else will take care of itself". We don't live in a good enough world for that. It's just not practical advice. There's more to it than that. If you're going to do something, do it as best as you can, otherwise don't do it so you don't waste your time. To do something as best as you can,... "you have to get it. You have to really grok what it’s all about. It takes a passionate commitment to really thoroughly understand something, chew it up, not just quickly swallow it. Most people don’t take the time to do that." "When you're a carpenter making a beautiful chest of drawers, you're not going to use a piece of plywood on the back, even though it faces the wall and nobody will ever see it. You'll know it's there, so you're going to use a beautiful piece of wood on the back. For you to sleep well at night, the aesthetic, the quality, has to be carried all the way through." So how is this practical? Let's say you're studying a econometrics major in university like I was doing. You know the introductory course's exams will be easy so you skip classes and just cram in the final week. You score 89/100 in the exam. Well good on you, but you didn't really grok what it's all about. You repeat this for the next semester and you score 78/100. Still a good mark, considering you didn't take the time to thoroughly understand it. However, this tactic will stop working once you get into higher level courses, where it depends on your total mastery of the fundamentals. You cannot just "cram" in the final week anymore. I've only recently been able to understand why I was so good in the Engineering part of my "Double Degree in Software Engineering & Commerce", and so bad at the other. I don't spend much time on either's classes and cram only in the final weeks before the exam, but because I spend the time I saved self-learning the bits of engineering that interests me - even though it doesn't match the courses I'm studying, a few semesters down the road all the dots comes together. I didn't self learn anything econometrics related (besides stock trading, some might call it gambling, though) in my time saved from not concentrating on my econometrics classes. I did well at first, but now I am experiencing serious headwind and am not sleeping well at night. This is why I am switching to another commerce major, so I can get another chance to really understand the fundamentals. If I'm going to complete a degree, I am going to (from now on) do it as best as I can. It means I will spend a lot more effort per mark that I will get. But I know I spent the time to throughly understand it. For me to sleep well at night, the quality has to be carried all the way through. I'm sorry if you had to cringe at some of what I wrote, but I felt I had to write it.

padobson 15y ago

"He embraced first-handedness or independent thinking: a primary orientation not toward others’ opinions, but toward reality as you see it." This is such a simple concept, but it is probably the most rarely employed thought process in all of society. Original thoughts are rare and usually lucky. No reason to look down on anyone for being original - there's nothing new under the sun. Independent thinking, however, is far more rare then it has to be.

wallflower 15y ago

"Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever." -Mahatma Gandhi If you are interested in Steve Job's philosophy of life, you may find value in learning about Stoicism. > Montaigne was fond of an ancient drinking game where the members took turns holding up a painting of a corpse inside a coffin and cheered “Drink and be merry for when you’re dead you will look like this.” Emotions like anxiety and fear have their roots in uncertainty and rarely in experience. Anyone who has made a big bet on themselves knows how much energy both states can consume. The solution is to do something about that ignorance. Make yourself familiar with the things, the worst-case scenarios, that you’re afraid of. http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2009/04/13/stoicism-101-a-practical-guide-for-entrepreneurs/ http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2009/04/13/stoicism-101...

teyc 15y ago

http://imgur.com/fEcCZ http://imgur.com/fEcCZ