
Steve Jobs’ Philosophy of Life - zealoushacker
http://www.theobjectivestandard.com/blog/index.php/2011/10/steve-jobs-philosophy-of-life/
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enemieslist
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.

~~~
michaelochurch
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.

~~~
jwallaceparker
Can you explain how objectivists are second-handed?

~~~
michaelochurch
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
>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/>? 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.

------
wallflower
"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...](http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2009/04/13/stoicism-101-a-practical-
guide-for-entrepreneurs/)

------
padobson
"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.

------
jedwhite
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
I agree. I would highly suggest pinging the author about that omission.

------
teyc
<http://imgur.com/fEcCZ>

------
michaelochurch
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.

~~~
jwallaceparker
My father likes to use the quote, "Whether you think you can, or you think you
can't - you're right."

This is a Henry Ford quote and seems to apply to this situation. You can
either believe you can 'follow your dreams' or believe following dreams is
reserved for a select few others.

Jobs didn't say everyone can become a billionaire. He said everyone can follow
their dreams. He's right.

>> By his late 20s, he was at the point of never having to work again. He
could work for fun.

He had been working for fun from the beginning.

~~~
michaelochurch
_You can either believe you can 'follow your dreams' or believe following
dreams is reserved for a select few others._

It's between those two extremes. If I decided my dream was to be a movie star,
I'd be out of luck.

 _He had been working for fun from the beginning._

He did something really smart. He started working (for fun, as you said)
before he had to. At 20, it would have been socially acceptable for him to go
back to college. Since he was working but didn't _have to_ work, he could
achieve a lot. This, combined with the luck of being substantial after a few
years of working life, enabled him to "work for fun" for probably most of his
work life.

~~~
jwallaceparker
> If I decided my dream was to be a movie star, I'd be out of luck.

Steve Jobs specifically advised people to do what they love. If your dream
were to be a movie star, it would follow that you love to act.

There are myriad opportunities for actors to practice acting. So I don't see
how you couldn't follow your dreams, i.e. do what you love.

> He did something really smart. He started working (for fun, as you said)
> before he had to.

I don't understand how someone's age precludes them from following their
dreams.

I'm sensing a defeatist attitude. If you are convinced that it's impossible to
follow your own dreams, it will be a self-fulfilling prophecy.

If, instead, you believe that you can follow your dreams, you will look for
opportunities to spend your time (even 10 minutes a day at first) following
that dream.

Perhaps you can respond with the specifics of your personal dream and how it
is not possible to follow it so we can steer this discussion in a productive
direction.

~~~
michaelochurch
I'm not a defeatist. I'm a realist. The "you can be whatever you want to be"
bullshit that kids are fed is destructive. It's not true. Not in the least.
I'm all for more moderate formulations of that, such as "pay attention to what
you want, not what others expect of you" and "value your integrity and
creative freedom highly; money and esteem are unimportant in comparison". I
can get behind those ideals. I do not think it is responsible to tell young
people that when they are adults they will be able to define their role in
society and have society say, "OK, sounds good, and here's the money to pay
your bills". It don't work that way.

We have a generation of neurotic, emotionally stunted, psychological cripples
in this country, and one reason for that is that we've had 40+ years of kids
being told they could be whatever they wanted, only to reach bitter
disappointment in adulthood upon discovering reality. Which means that normal
lives feel like abject failure to them. If they grew up with lower
expectations, they might not be so miserable.

Our parents weren't told this shit, because our grandparents grew up in the
fucking Great Depression and knew better.

Every time you tell a kid, "You can be whatever you want to be", you're
setting him up for despair if he ends up in an average job and social
position. You're better off telling him that life is hard and full of
compromises and that most of whether he succeeds or not is out of his control,
so he should focus on the 1% he can actually control. I am all for inspiring
people to do work they love instead of the work that is best-paid or most
esteemed, but they need to be prepared for sacrifice.

 _I don't understand how someone's age precludes them from following their
dreams._

Like it or not-- and I'm definitely in the "not" camp because I think it's
disgusting-- in the work world people are judged on where they got to at what
age. That's why this "follow your dreams" bullshit is so pernicious. It leads
to people (after chasing rainbows for several years) working entry-level jobs
at 30, which means they are very unlikely to be taken seriously ever-- they're
too far behind.

