
Here’s To The Crazy One - aaronbrethorst
http://techcrunch.com/2011/10/07/steve-jobs-the-crazy-one/
======
hswolff
_I might argue that Jobs is the first truly transformative figure to die in an
age of transformative technology. He’s someone that will be talked about a
thousand years from now. And the fact that he was transformative in technology
just compounds the reactions to his death right now._

This. A thousands times this.

MG touches on many true points as to why most people feel so sad about Steve's
passing.

However I feel like there's a deeper reason that hasn't been properly
elucidated.

Or perhaps I'm just far too emotionally confused at the moment to understand
why I feel the way I do.

Yes Steve died too soon.

Yes his products affected everyone they touched.

And yes it's scary to think of a future that won't have Steve's direct
influence.

Ultimately the passing of this powerful man elicits an emotional response
equal to the one he had on you. This varies for everyone, but it exists for
many.

RIP Steve. :(

~~~
vph
Steve Jobs is a brilliant man, but please he won't be talked about a thousand
years from now.

~~~
kloncks
Do we not still talk about Aristotle or Plato? Euclid, Archimedes or
Pythagoras? Hippocates or Eratosthenes?

~~~
irrumator
Are you seriously comparing Steve Jobs to those giants?

Listen, I don't want to be disrespectful to a man who's just died, but you
dishonor him when you try to stack him up next to them.

The ideas and intellectual breakthroughs of the ancient Hellenese that have
been passed down to the world through their books are infinitely of more
importance than the work of Steve Jobs. This is just not a comparable matter.

~~~
diolpah
kloncks is probably utilizing hyperbole in making comparisons with the great
thinkers of western civilization.

That said, we _do_ still talk about Edison, Carnegie, and Rockefeller, over a
century later. A millennium? Probably not, but the point is valid, even if off
by roughly half an order of magnitude.

~~~
irrumator
Sure, no one's saying Jobs will be forgotten to the sands of time any time
soon. Yet 1000 years is a little bit of a stretch, especially when you try to
size him up next to the ancient greats.

~~~
amirnathoo
Lots of differences: for a start, much more will be remembered of our times
than is remembered from 1000 years ago. Historians in the future will be
trying to determine what is important from too much data.

So you'd expect that someone who rises in the general consciousness now to
actually be far more impactful than the 'ancient greats'.

~~~
scottallison
A better analog to Jobs than the ancient Greeks might Michelangelo, and we
still talk about him, because what he did for that time was incredible. In
fact it's still incredible. Jobs didn't just build amazing products for our
time, but amazing products for the future as well. We didn't just fall in love
with his products, we fell in love with him and Apple as well. [And FYI, I'm
not a fanboy!]

This must be the first entrepreneur/capitalist/CEO that has been mourned on
such a global scale, and that in itself is remarkable; there's no one who
comes close. Maybe Warren Buffett, but outside of the US he's not that well-
known. The only person I can think of from modern times might be Walt Disney,
someone who was similarly creative, demanding, and left a cultural and
commercial legacy behind.

~~~
benologist
The problem with _that_ analogy is Michelangelo's work actually _survived_ all
that time, the iPhone etc's will be replaced by something from Apple or
another company, and the devices will get tossed and forgotten just like all
the other generations of technical devices that preceded it.

------
kayoone
Steve Jobs was brilliant and his achievements wont be forgotten anytime soon,
but some of this hype is really going a step to far and i say this as an Apple
user.

He has done great things for the industrial world in bringing them luxury
devices to solve luxury problems, but this is a really small part of the
world. Most people dont have enough money to buy his products, like all his
workers at the Foxconn factories for example. Its amazing how Apple was able
to keep such a clean vest while still doing many not so nice things big
corporations do these days, but as long as everyone has their nice toys noone
seems to really care.

~~~
veemjeem
Most great inventions/products start out being available to the wealthy before
being cheap enough to be accessed by all. I'm sure you think of lightbulbs as
commodity items now, but back when the first few lightbulbs were manufactured,
only the wealthy could afford them. 50 years from now, smartphones are
probably going to be so available you'll buy one from walgreens in their
discount aisle.

------
lyonheart
This is the best thing that has ever been written on techcrunch.

~~~
diolpah
While true, that doesn't really say much.

------
bprater
Odd. No attribution to that really cool logo.

~~~
ryanhuff
Scroll all the way down just before the Crunchbase section.

------
philwelch
The version of the "Think Different" ad with Steve's voice was surprisingly
emotional to listen to. It's always an odd mix of comfort and sadness to hear
a familiar voice that belongs to someone who's gone.

