Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
Kevin ClarkeOctober 06, 2011

Steve Jobs had a remarkable life. An adopted child (his biological sister, incredibly, is the novelist Mona Simpson), college drop-out and Arab American, he created perhaps the greatest comeback story in American corporate history. Before he became a visionary whose fine taste and ruthless perfectionism helped define the way people and technology interact, Jobs was a middle class kid who, worried about squandering his adoptive parents' life savings, left college to follow his interests and his instincts.

There will be many stories today assessing his contribution to American culture, but I think his own thoughts on death, "the single best invention," and the life fully lived might be worth hearing today. This is his 2005 commencement address at Stanford University.

 

Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.
Vince Killoran
13 years 9 months ago
Okay, I know it's not nice to speak ill of the dead but, with all of the tributes that have appeared in the last few days, has anyone addressed Jobs' lack of engagement with the social and ethical issues of the day? What did he do with his fortune? There was something a little overly focused and individualistic about his life course.

I liked his message of pluck and ingenuity but he had very little to say about the possible hazards of the unreflective embrace of technology (maybe Reed College was on to something by requiring a humanities or social science course).
Stanley Kopacz
13 years 9 months ago
Vince,
I don't have anything against Jobs for the most part, but I don't see him as an example for everyone. I don't see anything wrong with the technology he promoted, but I agree with your concerns about its unreserved embrace.  We presently have a tracking system in place that would astound Big Brother.  Every cell phone, every smart phone, every tablet computer has a GPS and probably a government backdoor.  I've the location sharing feature on my Xoom turned off, but is it really?

I may not necessarily agree with where the Amish draw the line on technology but at least they reflect on new technologies and how they affect their lives and society and then they make a decision.  I've seen solar-powered electric fences in Lancaster so they do use some high tech. In the general population, we accept anything.

The latest from america

Catholics across Texas and the world, including Pope Leo XIV, are offering their prayers and support after deadly flooding struck Texas on July 4.
Each year at this time, near the Fourth of July, we contemplate freedom. But maybe we are also being called to do an extended examination of our own fears.
George Drance, S.J.July 07, 2025
Is it possible to embrace the idea of a special, evenly divinely ordained mission for America without violating Christian ethical principles?
Thomas J. MassaroJuly 07, 2025
Pope Leo XIV arrived in the papal summer retreat of Castel Gandolfo on Sunday to start a six-week vacation, giving the hilltop town back its most illustrious resident after Pope Francis stayed away during his 12-year pontificate.