On its website, Apple has just confirmed that its co-founder and former CEO, Steve Jobs, has passed away at age 56. After bringing the company back from the brink of bankruptcy and turning it into one of the world’s most succesful technology companies, Jobs lost the battle with pancreatic cancer.
“We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today,” the company said in a brief statement, “Steve’s brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve.”
The technology world just lost one of its greatest leaders, and surely one that has shaped this industry almost more than any other. It’s difficult not to admire what he did with Apple the past 14 years, and I’m genuinely sad he will no longer be with us. Our heartfelt condolences to his family and friends.
R.I.P.
Just wow.
RIP Steve Jobs, your works will always be remembered
RIP Steve. You really helped make computers an everyday item.
He deserves all respect.
I’m sure there will be endless ruminating in the days and weeks to come about what this means to Apple, but let’s not forget the man or his contributions to the technology world. Love him or hate him, he was a game changer.
R.I.P Steve, your light was extinguished way too early. You should’ve lived another 30 years or more.
You’ve summed up exactly how I feel. Though I don’t care for the company anymore, I’ve always looked up to him as a brilliant business leader and an example of how to resurrect a company from certain death. Apple owes everything they have now to his legacy.
Rest in peace, Steve.
Yup.
Though, it’s perhaps worth pondering how much of the company is now Apple, and how much NeXT in disguise …it was essentially a corporate coup when Steve returned; probably most present core technologies in Apple product lines tracing their lineage back to Next, or developed/adapted/bought after Steve’s return.
Next being also largely about Steve Jobs, obviously.
Well said. Steve you will be missed.
I’ll choose the latter. As far as the good or bad outweighing the other… I think the bad far outweighs the good. Most of the good he did was for himself and Apple shareholders; most of the bad he did was for the world of computing and software.
My prediction… in 30 years the puzzle pieces for the cure to cancer will be held by 7 different companies as greedy as Steve and Apple. They won’t be able to come to an agreement and put their pieces together to save a single life.
True enough. Maybe in contrast with mr. Gates which did many good things after he has resigned from MS. But still, many if not most very rich people and billionaires do what common people consider “bad things” as they roam the jungle of capitalism and try to become richer. And being “bad” and eventually greedy doesn’t mean that a person deserves to die.
If there will be a cure for cancer, I bet that the “Apples” of pharmaceutical and bioengineering companies will patent some ideas and sue the competition for patent infringement.
And as opposed to what Apple is doing, that would actually be evil.
R.I.P. Steve Jobs!
You were a visionary genius who eschewed marketing mumbo jumbo for what ordinary people would actually use! As a result, Apple became the De Facto standard for computers, media players, smart phones and basically technology for all lifestyles! You will be missed!
Crazy. I’d just fallen asleep, and about 15 minutes later I suddenly woke up, feeling very uncomfortable (I have te flu, but still). Check Facebook, and then this.
Eery.
one glove does’nt fit all but in my experience a bit of alcohol make my flu recovery much faster.
Just a bit ne..don’t overdue it..hehe
Weirdly enough, being a sound sleeper, last night I kept waking up every couple of hours and that’s with no flu and two glasses of bourbon.
I blamed the sauce, don’t know what is it with it, most whisk(e)ys are ok and while I tend to favor speyside single malts, kentucky bourbon is the only one that gives me a headache while drinking it.
On hindsight maybe it was the disturbance in the force.
Thom, surely you aren’t surprised to be among the people Steve would (will continue to?) haunt?!
Hm, quite a few readily apparent cheap shots there…
1) Wait, what? Again? (just a few weeks ago lots of people seemed to be acting like he died already)
2) The reception of the unchanged new iPhone killed him.
3) “Reports of my death are not exaggerated.” (he did quote the original Mark Twain line once)
4) “0/0” Apple event presentation slide
5) Now we know what “iPhone Death S” means? ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetraphobia )
6) But nothing happened after ~1.5 days… (no, not the prevalent “after three” which seems to be a ~pop-cultural artefact of “on third day”)
Hey, personally I would hope to inspire at least cheap jokes afterwards
(and to be able to laugh from myself shortly before that) – seems like a better end, for example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsHk9WC7fnQ 
…NVM how twisted the alternative phenomena of the faithful majorities becoming often most sad is.
(only too bad there is, in the background, some slight possibility of two people being dead – http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2009/06/steve-jobs-received-a-new-liver… – realistically speaking, 2 years would barely impact the level of his accomplishments; and he surely knew that, even with transplant, his time was running short; but very few of us would be able to (not) act on such impulses)
Enjoy your new life, Mr. Jobs.
I’m so sad for the family he leaves behind.
Goodbye Mr Jobs. Thank you for amazing things. Posted with an Ipod Touch 2nd Gen-I’d be lost without it.
I quickly first met Steve Jobs in 2002, at the OSX Jaguar release party in Palo Alto. He was very kind to me, and he let me take his picture too. He even joked a bit, I remember. He seemed really happy that night. I saw him four more times at various Apple events since, but never as close as that first time.
I heard many stories here in the Bay Area about Jobs being ruthless to people around him or to competitors, but I think most is forgiven when you consider what a visionary he was. Steve Jobs will be missed as no one else in the tech world has ever been.
Edited 2011-10-06 00:52 UTC
I was at a private business meeting that he attended, had a moment where nobody was talking to him in the hall, and walked up and mentioned that I’d read that he had done games back at Atari. He laughed and started telling me funny stories about his days working at Atari, and he really didn’t need to do so as the co-founder of Apple and busy head of another company at that point. (This is back in ’94.)
Would I have wanted to work for him? Maybe not, based on stories from friends who did, but they never had bad things to say about him personally (and actually thought he was an amazing man), just that working for him was pretty challenging and that mistakes were not exactly swept under the rug.
Anyway, he was really nice to me as well, and I’m very sad to see him pass away so young. He really moved the entire tech industry forward like nobody else. RIP Steve, and condolences to his family as well.
Jobs was one of the greats.
I don’t know if the tech industry will ever see days such as those when the likes of Jobs, Wozniak and Gates were pretty much carving out computing as we know it.
Whatever you think of Apple, you have to admire Jobs. He actually had vision, something pretty rare in today’s CEO’s. You just know that when you sat in his meetings, you wouldn’t have been playing buzzword bingo.
RIP Steve.
I guess this explains the reserved empty chair at the iPhone announcement yesterday. It was in prominent view in too many camera shots to be accidental. Kinda nice really, a company paying tribute to their absent colleague who was clearly close to his end.
Yeah, I noticed that as well. Was actually expecting him to show up during the presentation as it has been speculated before.
Adrian
This is one of the news you read and takes 5 minutes to actually believe it. I just checked on the internet is all over the internet. And I still feel I can’t believe it…
I cant believe it Too… I watching CNN for quite some Time, just because i just have to think about it…
Im really sad at the Moment … Why He dies just One Day After this loosy Keynote.. Damnit … I hope his last thoughts werent about this.
R.I.P Steve Jobs.
The industry just lost a massive player. My condolences to his family and loved ones.
Sorry to hear it. RIP Mr. Jobs…I bought my first ever Apple computer in 2005, the first version of the Mac Mini and it’s still ticking after taking so many lickings!
That was my first Mac too, not counting the ones I used at school of course. I’ve since come into possession of a fully working Performa 460, currently collecting dust in my office closet. I think I might just pull it out and fire up a game of Shadowgate for old times’ sake, in Steve’s honor.
And yes, I know that particular machine was released during the Jobs-less era at Apple, but besides my ancient iPod shuffle it’s the only Apple-made device I still own.
Ah yes, LC …not only Macs from the times long after Steve Jobs was gone from Apple, and long before he returned – they also can be seen as leading to the dynamics which almost brought Apple to the brink of collapse.
I think such “tribute” could be considered – at least in times passed – blasphemous
(though seriously, they were nice machines for what they could do, judging from few LC 475 in my high-school* at the turn of centuries; too bad why they were there in the first place probably had somewhat shady background: http://www.osnews.com/permalink?489120 the bit starting with “Furthermore”)
same feelings here.
I will never forget. This man changed the world. His footsteps are huge. He made history.
The world will not be the same without him.
Rest in peace mr. jobs.
In a weird twist of fate, I was just teaching a friend and brand new Mac convert how to use Spotlight to open apps by hitting Cmd + Space and typing Safari. Since it’s a new machine, the default homepage, http://www.apple.com, is what broke the sad news. As a 29 year old that’s followed Jobs and Apple since elementary school, I’m deeply saddened by this loss. However, as someone who believes in the afterlife, I’m pleased to know that him and ol’ Jef Raskin are finally back together shooting the shit about faulty pancreases and “leap” keys.
With profound respect,
Steve Jabs
Sent from my Macintosh
For all we know, Steve Jobs was a Buddhist. Hence, presumably, he not only didn’t believe (BTW, how do you go from “someone who believes” to “I’m pleased to know“?) in stories for good children about reunions and such, he also presumably believed in something much more profound, followed a religion which leads its adherents into actually valuing – as something which needs to earned – their, essentially, cessation of existence. One which causes them (via a small trick of reincarnations; but still, fascinating in comparison) into recognizing the profound truth about our lives being just short, fleeing contributions (working towards loftier goals here) to slowly evolving human societies.
Steve, as a Buddhist, presumably would at most expect to be reincarnated …which is an undesirable option.
You being pleased from your “knowledge” that his beliefs are irrelevant, on such occasion, can be easily seen as quite disrespectful – “with profound respect” or… mockery?
Thank you Steve Jobs.
Such a huge loss! R.I.P.
I hope he accepted Christ and made it to heaven, even if it was to this last very day. Usually geeks are anti-christian or anti-religion. But I really hope this human being has been saved. I was shocked by the news, because I know, every one out there being apart from God has a certain destiny and I wish they didn’t die apart from Him.
Based on his comments, I don’t think Jobs believed in an afterlife, and I’m certain he’d find the idea of an eternity of rest dreadfully pointless. The fact of mortality was very significant to him as both a personal motivator and an agent of change, and if there’s an eternity of peace with no problems to overcome and nothing new to create, I don’t think he’d like to be conscious for it.
Even saying “rest in peace” feels almost insulting to his legacy and personality, as if he had been a life-weary sort of man eager to let go rather than the indellibly enthusiastic, visionary man of business who had to be just days away from death before he’d give up his responsibilities of running the world’s most valuable company. This is not someone who was longing for rest.
As for Apple, I hope they’ve learned the right lessons from his success: good is not good enough, an unusable feature is just a mistake, and you can outdo everything else out there by being more focused, polished, and fun to use. The editing process is every bit as important as the creative process. Here’s to Steve Jobs, industry’s greatest editor.
“Rest in peace” – aka “requiescat in pace” (not to forget about the context of whole sentence http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rest_in_peace ) – thrown around on such occasions might feel almost insulting (likewise: http://www.osnews.com/permalink?492969 ) also for other reasons: it comes from Catholic burial rituals, while Steve Jobs was apparently, if anything, a Buddhist – at least that’s what Wiki page about him claims, with some reference thrown in.
Granted, not a big deal, considering how generalised & washed out the expression has become, but…
BTW, “good is not good enough” perhaps doesn’t encompass it fully, according to Steve Jobs (emphasis mine):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LEXae1j6EY&feature=player_detailpag…
It would seem that, in the course of the creative process which Steve Jobs promoted, it was crucial to recognize “good enough”.
Maybe someone doesn’t know about something, so he can’t choose properly. Maybe someone didn’t wish to know about that something, in order to possess what he egoistically desired.
One thing is sure, Jobs knew about people starving and people slowly dying because of lack of medicines, and kept on wasting money on luxuries
http://www.celebritycars.tv/steve-jobs-car-pics
I don’t wish to be in his place.
Edited 2011-10-10 00:15 UTC
Don’t take this the wrong way – it doesn’t matter how much money you throw at a problem, unless the people in government and the countrywide infrastructure is willing to change to accommodate the “help” given, it is like pouring water in to a sieve. The money leaks out of the sides before it reaches the intended recipients. Without creating a base, the tower will topple. It all goes down to the (paraphrased by me) saying “You can give a man a fish and he eats for one day, teach him to fish and he eats for a lifetime”.
Pointing at the people in this world that have enough balls to start companies and make a fortune is all well and good, but assuming that they owe the world a free lunch is also pretty flawed. Gates feels like he has to give something back. Jobs spent the last 10+ years slowly dying. Some people have different priorities. By all accounts, Jobs seems to have been a pretty nice guy on a *personal* level (as opposed to “in business”) – who knows what might have happened if he’s had the luxury of health.
And the president of the US flies in a private jet. Your point?
I’m not sure you were invited.
> > One thing is sure, Jobs knew about people starving
> > and people slowly dying because of lack of
> > medicines
> > …kept on wasting money on luxuries
> > http://www.celebritycars.tv/steve-jobs-car-pics
There are many ways to understand this:
1) Thinking about it a long time.
2) Seeing your children looking at you, slowly and painfully dying because of lack of medicines… while others waste their money in luxury cars, buy another luxury car while the first is still OK, etc.
3) Etc.
> > I don’t wish to be in his place.
> I’m not sure you were invited.
I don’t think I was. Anyway, you can be in a place without being invited, you know.
> And the president of the US flies in a private jet.
It’s a luxury for him? Could he travel safely, with the same efficiency, by another less expensive(*) means?
(*) The ones who end up paying that… are other people, of course. That money could be spent in public health, for example. So it’s not an unimportant matter. The question is not trivial to answer.
There’s a vagrant who begs out side of a tube station in London near where I work. He looks sober, he doesn’t look like a drug user. He asks for money every day, morning and evening. He looks like he needs a bath. He says things such as “just trying to get enough money to stay in a hostel tonight.” Most people ignore him. Why? Because every day he wants more. I could give him money every day and it wouldn’t be enough. That is the real issue. No matter how much I give, it’s not ever going to be enough. I work hard every day to feed my family. I was not put on earth to support his lifestyle. I’m sure he didn’t choose to be homeless, but he embodies the neediness and futility of existence.
And there’s no such thing as a free lunch.
You need to look at the car Bill Gates drives. And the fact that Bill Clinton had to pass a statute just so that he could be allowed to drive it in the US. Bill Gates is one of the biggest benefactors for charity in Tech. In other words, a car is a car.
No doubt one of the greatest men of the last 50 years.
R.I.P. Steve, you’ll be missed.
…when I heard the news this morning. I kind of never thought he would die, even though it comes to us all.
When I saw the Mac for the first time back in 84, I must have studied every pixel on every graphic for an entire year from articles in magazines, I didn’t own a Mac until the LC757 came out. From those images I discovered what attention to detail meant. Steve understood simplicity and function, but combined it with elegance and art.
He has inspired me to create things with a little more polish than I might have otherwise.
You will be missed…
As you can see, I just threw down the mod hammer.
Guys and girls, please remember the following Dutch saying: over de doden niets dan goed (“concerning the dead, nothing but good”). We’ll get to discuss any possible negative things in what I’m sure will be countless future items about Jobs. You don’t use this item for that.
Tanks.
Thank you for that. The trolling is already strong on several mainstream news chat boards. I think it’s fitting we should use this particular outlet to honor his memory.
I generally disagree with this but it’s not like Jobs was a Jeffrey Dahmer or Pol Pot or anything so…yeah. Keep you negativity (and religion. sheesh) to yourselves for once.
I strongly disagree. Today is no different from yesterday. While those close to him probably don’t want to hear anny negatives, they are also not obliged to (or likely to) troll comments on stories like this… at least not today. Proximity to death does not change facts or opinions. If he was an asshole while alive he’s still an asshole.
I strongly agree with your disagreement! Hail Eris!
I’ve never understood how someone can be such an utter (enter expletive here) and yet when they go on to meet their maker, in whatever form that takes, suddenly their farts smell like the sex sweat of a super model. I really hope when I kick the bucket, that people will shout honestly how they felt about me, so I know which ones to haunt!
You think I was an asshole in life, wait ’til I have freaky ghost powers!
Well Sir, I strongly agree with your agreement.
Yes, indeed. And while I didn’t like Jobs, this was regarding him as Apple’s CEO because I din’t like many things Apple as a company has done under his command. This however doesn’t mean that the person, the human being Steve Jobs was an asshole. He might have been or he might have not.
The issue is, dead people can’t defend themselves…
He wasn’t going to defend himself while alive, either, at least not here. So what’s the difference? It’s only in your head.
I’m sure, like many other highly influential people before him, his legacy will go through waves of respect and derision throughout the years to come. I do agree he had a reputation as a harsh and difficult to like guy on a personal level, especially to those within his sphere of innovation and productivity. There are countless anecdotes regarding his temper and arrogance towards those who missed living up to his impossibly high standards.
But that doesn’t change the fact that he was a brilliant and enlightened person as well. He saw the world in a way that most of us never will, and I personally can look beyond the tantrums and see that the better qualities greatly outweighed the bad ones.
In short, he was human therefore subject to flawed emotions and reactions, just like any of us. As I never knew him personally, I choose to remember the great works he accomplished, just as I do regarding past innovators and geniuses, assholes though they may have been on a personal level.
I choose not to forget that past figures of importance were not perfect role models. I choose not to worship the dead. Call me weird, but I think there’s harm in only remember the good stuff. I’m not going to tiptoe around his apparent flaws when talking about the man, nor should anyone be so obliged.
I think “sociopath” would be more appropriate.
Classic ASPD.
I suggest you re-read 1984. Rewriting the life of Jobs to remove things which could be construed as negative is of benefit to no one. If you wish to simply debate *when* it is appropriate to honestly document facts, such as suggesting that it’s less appropriate the day after he has died than months or years later for historical purposes, then that would be an interesting topic.
Your pop diagnosis of me based on your own emotional hangups is almost as funny as it is irrational.
Except, your attitude pretty much proves the point. You don’t have to like Jobs, but your lack of respect is pretty pathetic.
Let me repeat that at no point in this thread have I commented on Jobs. What I think of him isn’t important to the discussion. I could write a pretty glowing eulogy for him in all honesty, and I think that is indeed a place where no ill should be spoken.
I am making a statement against the deletion of comments which are truthful or honest, but negative. They ought not to be deleted. I am not supporting vitriolic or nasty comments regarding Jobs in general and I won’t disagree with the deletion of such comments from this article, though I doubt the necessity.
I suggest you look inward if you read anything else in to what I have said in this thread. I also suggest that your standard for proof is tragically low.
It is to the Jobs family and friends. Or do you have no compassion?
Troll is a very subjective term. Care to define it? I think it cuts both ways – some could argue your mirror holds the image of a classic troll.
Being a member of the human race, rather than an animal, pretty much does mean that most people – love or hate Jobs, have at least some decency and respect.
Exactly. But being cruel for the sake of making yourself feel self important, well that speaks greater volumes. Lacking compassion and moral fibre, well.. maybe we’ll laugh like this when you die – oh wait, you’ll never have amounted to anything, so no one will know you are dead… shucks, well I’ll laugh now just so that I don’t accidentally miss your demise, you heartless bastard. Oh, and as the cap fits, I suggest you don’t bump you giant asshat on the way out.
Did you miss the part where I covered them later?
I have compassion for them, not for comment posters (and readers) here, who have no connection.
Trolling in this case is used by analogy to the meaning from which the “internet troll” is derived:
So sayeth wordnet. I could have as easily said “Reading through the comments” or “perusing” or whatever and meant the same thing.
Wrong. Some could argue that people posting here saying bad things about Steve Jobs are trolls. While some could argue that I was trolling, in its modern internet-troll sense, some people would be very off base. I was objecting to censorship in the name of the principle of not speaking ill of the dead, a principle which I think is far more harmful than beneficial. If you wish call to objecting to a commonly-held practice on the grounds that it is asinine and unhelpful trolling, so be it. I didn’t say anything designed to inflame comment, I simply stood up and registered the dissenting opinion when Thom posted his side. I think that it is fair to do so and that no further comment from either side is required. I understand why he took what action he did, and cannot say he was certainly wrong to do so, but lest it be thought that his stance met with unanimous approval I registered the opposing viewpoint for the record. That is all.
Sorry, I can’t parse any sense out of that. What do animals have to do with this? Are you saying that most people love or hate jobs because we are human? Are you saying that most people have at least some decency and respect? What part of this do you think is disagreeing with me?
In what place did I advocate being cruel for any reason? At what point was I cruel for any reason? If you could identify either case, can you show cause that it was for the purpose of “making myself feel self important”? You cannot, because I never did these things and my intent was not this and is not likely to have been mistaken for this by a reasonable observer.
In fact, what I objected to was the deletion of statements of fact and opinion which merely cast the deceased in a negative light. This is so far from what you’re accusing me of advocating (and doing!) that I question whether you read what I wrote and whether you are acting according to some outside agenda. The severity of your reaction is hardly justified.
Who’s being needlessly cruel now? I never questioned anyone’s compassion or moral fiber, neither did I say anything which should cause my own to come in to question. Facing uncomfortable truths head-on is the very substance of moral uprightness. I could be fairly accused of a lack of compassion by an impartial observer, but such an accusation, if fairly made, could be shown to be without basis by simple cross-examination. Since no one asked me to justify it I have not done so, nor do I care to justify myself to such an obviously biased person as yourself.
I’m sure you’re patting yourself on the back for this witticism, but it makes such little sense that I cannot even bring myself to be slightly amused.
I give you a rating of 4 out of 10 on my troll-o-meter. Good enough, but too obvious to be in any real danger of being mistaken for genuine. Better luck next time.
Oh dear. Please accept 2/10 fror your little effort. That’s all I have. Not worth making any more effort pointing out that your giant back pedalling was pretty funny.
Not worth the effort… and yet you did so anyway.
I know you won’t point out any specific contradiction, real or imagined, in what I have written and this is because you can’t. I recognize your technique in alluding to something which doesn’t exist and dismissing it, thus making any counter point impossible. One golf clap to you, sir. I don’t know who you think you’re fooling.
Actually it is a Latin saying: “De mortuis nil nisi bonum.” and it is an apothegm pertaining to Chilon of Sparta.
The English saying, directly linked to the Latin, is “Never speak ill of the dead”. “Ill” being used in the original meaning of the word as “bad” rather than the modern sense of “sick”.
That was my first and only reaction. Whether you’ve used an Apple product or not or actually owned one, you owe it to him. Apple’s tribute is simple and elegant, just like many of its products.
I know I may have appeared to have been heavy on the criticism of Apple of late but just woke up to this very sad news. It must be terribly, terribly heartrending for his family for Steve Jobs to have been taken so young: my own father died suddenly at 53, and I apprehend their loss. A person is at the height of their powers at that age. What else might he have brought to the world had he had another 30 years. Be at peace, Mr Jobs.
For all I can think of Apple and its leaders now, Jobs’ baby has had a great impact on the world of personal computing, especially in its early life, and I can only be thankful for that.
So… Thanks for starting it and knowing how to pick employees, man, and farewell.
With all the money that has been raised for research over the last 30 years, we can’t cure cancer yet. This is unjust. I will send yet another donation today but man, all those year and I see no progress. Cancer has just done another innocent victim today and this is very unjust. It makes me angry.
Heh, “cure” is a forbidden word for pharmaceutical companies. They don’t want to “cure” anything–or else they would not be able to keep you on their patented and trademarked drugs for the long term. They want you to remain alive, but sick and of poor health, so they can keep selling you medications that “mask” the symptoms you’re having.
– Cure an ailment… no further medications or treatments required. This means no more money for the pharmaceutical companies. Excellent for the sufferer, though; they may be able to return to good health, no longer need to blow money on expensive prescription drugs, and just be happier and feel better in general.
– Hide the root cause of disease and require treatments and medications to keep their symptoms at bay and to feel even remotely normal… the victim (of the disease, and of the companies…) is now double-f*cked, while the pharmaceutical companies are laughing all the way to the bank. Gotta love capitalism! Hey, I’m sure Steve did–look at all the $$$ that guy made. Add the nasty side effects synthetic chemicals tend to have on humans (and other animals and even plants, for that matter), and really, you’re triple-f*cked.
I was semi-shocked for about five seconds when I read this, but not really. Why else would he step down? It was obvious Steve and Apple were hiding something, and it was obvious that his health was declining. I was actually expecting it. I can’t stand Apple as a company though; their walled garden nature, their stupid-looking shiny white bare and curved product designs, and their over-rated and over-priced portable devices. I’m hoping this means Apple will dwindle as a company once again, and change their selfish ways. As it is, they’re a bunch of selfish, arrogant pricks, and I’m getting sick of hearing about their iCrap and their ridiculous lawsuits against other companies.
Edited 2011-10-06 07:46 UTC
The man is a limited creature, my friend.
Cancer will be never be cured completely, sad but true.
Cancer is basically when your own cells start to attack your own body, thereby completely ignored by your own immune system.
Those rogue cells can be created at any time, but some products can increase the chance of the creation of such cells (chemicals, radiation, cigarettes).
But even without those products, there is chance that your body makes a mistake and creates cancer cells, and that chance only increases when we get older.
Cancer is part of life, and it’s nature’s way to make sure that everything that lives, will eventually die…
I hope you’re wrong about that. Unfortunately, the future is not much brighter than it was 20 years ago.
This isn’t entirely true. Take it from someone who has survived cancer; my immune system went batshit-crazy throughout the ordeal. One of the ways my oncologist measured the status of treatment was my white blood cell count.
I don’t disagree with you about external accelerators, but let’s face it: Cancer has been around since complex living beings first started roaming the earth. We will be dealing with it for as long as humans exist. Not to mention, pretty much any animal is susceptible.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the “cure” for cancer also turned out to greatly increase longevity.
Well if we never died physically I’m pretty sure our minds would eventually go insane. I think the current average lifespan is a bit shorter than it should be though; many people (like Jobs, though age had little to do with his death) die at the pinnacle of their achievements, and so many times you hear the sentiment “I hope I live long enough to ________ “.
Then again, the longer we live (especially if we remain virile in later years) the more overpopulated the planet becomes. It’s a precarious balance and I fear we are tipping the scales in a negative direction. Of course, the last thing I want to see is a morally bankrupt solution like eugenics, forced sterilization, artificial limits on childbearing, and so on. I just hope we can find a way to sustain the human race while simultaneously finding ways to live longer and healthier lives.
Also, to agree with Morgan – and I think anyone that has worked in cell cycle or cancer research or developmental biology or aging research will probably agree with the following. While there probably are ‘cures’ for certain cancers -many would simply have to be patient specific and require tailored gene therapies and or involve cell specific targeting etc that is mostly still tantalisingly out of reach (just) – if we can target recurrent cancers(and very probably cancers of various different types too in very elderly patients)then greatly increased longevity probably will be a side effect
Nice post ! Just about this…
To the best of my knowledge, dying from “old age” is nowadays essentially about cardiac problems and cancers, so a cure for the main cancers, coupled with cheaper artificial hearts, would certainly improve longevity much.
Now, as you mention, there’s life expectancy and healthy life expectancy… If we can keep the body alive but cannot do something against, say, brain ageing, what we’ll get in the end is 120 years old living deads who cannot move, eat, or remember their names by themselves. What would be the point ?
Edited 2011-10-06 13:18 UTC
the point is that these living deads are worth their weight in gold
at least for the pharmaceutical industry
I think it’s way too early to make that kind of prediction. There are a lot of new therapies which are adding years to peoples’ lives that didn’t exist a decade ago. More people are surviving breast and prostate cancer than ever before. Little by little, every advance counts.
Big ups to Mr Jobs. My sympathy too goes out to his loved ones. It is too young! A quick remark though re: ‘no progress on cancer’ – I’ve lost some very dear relatives to cancer including some really nasty ones, mesothelioma and pancreatic cancer too, so understand the shear frustration many suffer. I’ve also worked in cancer research and can assure you an awful lot of very dedicated people have worked long hard hours to understand the (wide wide) variety of cancers and possible therapies – and this may dishearten some, but the truth is, there will rarely be any ‘cures’ for any cancer types, just better therapies.. ..though there will be those! It’s not a ‘disease’, ..it’s when the very very complicated machines that our bodies are aren’t quite working perfectly ..it’s just part of life ..and death I’m afraid. sorry to get sciencey there. RIP!
Today, I’ve had a course on a very promising way to burn tumors that is already in the testing stages. Don’t know if it was voluntary.
Edited 2011-10-06 13:19 UTC
I agree with you about anger over it, but the unfortunate truth is that cancer as a whole can never be completely eradicated. Cancer is a mutation of cells, and you cannot stop mutations. Some mutations are beneficial (how else does evolution work), but most are harmful, and those are cancers. It’s possible to treat, and maybe even cure a cancer on an individual, but it will never be possible to have a blanket cure or prevention. Sad, but true.
But you can theoretically alter the rate of mutation and its malignant effects.
Yes, and that’s where the future of cancer-research, according to a cancer researcher I talked to once. There is more focus to find out how they can stop the growth and spread of tumors. While this is not a cure, it will give people with a very vicious cancer a normal life expectancy.
Sad. I’m not a fan of the company Apple has become, but it is fairly much impossible to ignore the impact they have had.
If nothing else, I respect the fact that he held the helm as long as he did considering what, in retrospect, he must have been dealing with. It’s clear that he loved what he did, and whatever one’s opinion on how he ran the company, it is always tragic to see someone go in their prime while they still had so much potential.
Tip of the glass to you, Mr. Jobs. You’ve earned it, and you will be remembered.
iLoved You.
I fell in love with computers when I first used an Apple IIe. I still remember the day I first typed in “10 ? “Hello” ”
Thank you for Apple, Pixar, and NeXT. Rest in peace, Mr. Jobs. May God give your family strength and patience in this time.
I used an Apple II for 5 years. It is like an old friend die.
He developed state of the art products that were a step forward civilizational with a positive impact on the lives of so many people around the world. That’s a great achievement, specially if compared with the pain and frustration caused by crappy products people had to buy because another developer did everything to leave them without a choice.
Three stories: about connecting the dots, love & loss, life & death. RIP.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc
“No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.”
“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma ^aEUR” 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. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”
“We have been always shameless about stealing great ideas.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CW0DUg63lqU&feature=related
Rest in peace.
Now we understand what 4S stands for
For Steve
It might be better to not analyse it…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetraphobia
Noting the tone of all the presenters at the iPhone announcement the other day, and finding out about the empty chair, it is quite obvious that Apple knew the end was near, but they had to go on with their presentation. Watching it now it is quite obvious that they all knew it could happen at any time. What a job, to have to go on as if nothing was going on.
I used to be a die-hard Linux fan, but I’m typing this on my MacBook Pro, and I’ve got a Mac Pro tower encoding 1080p videos at faster than real-time speed. Steve Jobs was a very controversial figure, but the more I’ve looked into the Apple platform, the more I realise the genius and creativity that’s gone into making it. If the open source community can get even a small fraction of that level of talent then Microsoft and bad computer systems in general will be doomed. Steve is one talent the world will sorely miss.
Just a shame.
I wish his family the best.
There are moments that are really so hard that no words can come close to describe them.
Have been a science, puzzle and technology addict since I remember and had used Apple products just to know “what’s up” about them since 1987 did not make me switch to its products, but earned a huge respect for all meticulous care and overall finished sense they have.
Besides upping the bar on computer industry, Steve also was part of Pixar revolution and come to put a little sanity back on the record industry. So much for a single man to accomplish that, from time to time, I got asking myself if there were some clones of him running along.
Wish that are a God waiting for him and when he asks why so early, he gets: “The light that burns twice as bright burns for half as long – and you have burned so very, very brightly, Steve. Look at you: you’re the Prodigal Son; you’re quite a prize!”
Rest in a very deserved peace Steve, the sense of your presence will be deeply real to all of us that have the privilege to live on the same epoch you did.
Edited 2011-10-06 13:03 UTC
True I’m not a fan of some of the business practices of Apple but I wholeheartedly admired Mr. Jobs for his dedication, passion, and vision.
RIP Steve.
It unsettling to feel upset at the passing of somebody I don’t know at all, and especially somebody in the IT industry, which traditionally is about soul-less technologies, when life is meant to be about deeper stuff. What did Steve do? He made nice devices. That’s great and all, but shouldn’t be enough for me to feel sad. But I am feeling sad.
The keyboard I’m typing on has been painstakingly crafted by him. There are details in both hardware and software which can be closely attributed to his drive to perfection. These that I use every day. It’s his doing that made a computer that I enjoy to use, that I want to use rather than have to use.
The industry has just lost a good couple of decades of his talent. I hope Apple can keep things moving along current lines. I have no doubt they can execute an idea, but worry about the seeds of those ideas. Is there anybody else who can champion an idea like Steve? We’re not talking about a better iPod, iPhone or MacBook Air, but the execution of entirely new classes of products.
RIP Steve, and Thanks.
a few weeks ago they showed a photo of him in a magazine standing next to a friend and he looked gravely ill.
Then yesterday before this announcement they showed a short tribute to him on a news channel.
When i saw this program i thought what did Steve Jobs die? and googled it. Luckily nothing.
Then this morning i opened OSAlert and there it was Steve Jobs is dead.
I dont like Apple’s business practices lately but feel compassion for anyone cut down so young and have to had endured so much suffering for such a long time.
Like another commentor said. 30-40 years too young to die.
Edited 2011-10-06 14:25 UTC
Regarding cancer being cured…all the latest data and research points to yes it will and as a previous posted point it, the treatment will be tailored to the individual patient. Work is already being done in this field and there have been some very important breakthroughs. We aren’t there yet but we are a lot closer today than we were yesterday. There’s every reason to be optimistic it will happen and practically no reason not to be.
Regarding the passing of Steve Jobs… His impact and influence on society can be seen around the world, there’s no denying that. Like him or not, like Apple or not, it’s unfortunate when a person has to suffer the way he did. I don’t believe in heaven but I do believe he is still around in one form or another, and free of his broken down container of a body. RIP Steve Jobs.
Regarding anything with anything negative to say right now… grow up and learn some decency. It’s not about censorship, it’s about being a mature adult… Be one.
He’s off to the iCloud. iNsensitive? iDon’t care – it’s time to iParty.
I don’t like what Apple has evolved to and didn’t have much respect for Steve Jobs at all and probably never will.
Irrespective of those feeling, this man was a game changer for a lot of people, and I commend him for that. No one can take away what this man did for humanity.
He definitely left a mark and that is something not many can do. My condolences to his family, and close friends, I hope that in this time of sadness they can come out of this knowing they loved him, and he loved them.
R.I.P. Steve Jobs
What Steve Jobs did was put an amazing team of engineers and designers around a clear vision that he didn’t slack on, and he got their best.
We may not like what Apple’s legal team does these days, but you still have got to love that faithful execution of clean, inspired design. Whether you deal with his machines or something influenced by them, you’ve got to appreciate the man.
“What would Steve do” will likely be a mantra in a lot of design disciplines for some time to come.
iWeep
Is Apple going to take advantage of Steve’s death to release the next products?
Next Apple Keynote “…I think that with the iPad 3 we really are paying a tribute to Steve”
I think Steve would love that…. he was such a consumer populist.
R.I.P. Steve.
Hey anyone here interested on looking at the working conditions in Asian countries which manufacture Apple products? It would change your mind about some figures in a minute. Here we don’t have an Apple plant, because of certain reasons – we actually have labor union.
Do you have a Dell, HP or similar plant? Most of the major PC manufacturers use the same manufacturing plants (Foxconn etc) and so pointing a finger at one, ignoring the others, is misleading.
We have HP and Dell plants here. Their prices are actually fair in the market, local nationals work there. But an iPod will cost 2/3 of a brand new notebook here, or depending on the model (high-end) will cost a bit more than a brand new notebook. This is what I am talking about. I’m not fond of Apple Inc.
Once Microsoft called me to offer some “softwares” (I was in their telephone listing somehow). I asked: Why is it so expensive? The lady responded: Sir, our products are all imported. I replied: But, you do have a plant in this nation, right? You do have the product translated as I see. – She replied: Sorry, our products are imported and are sold on USD basis. I replied: No thanks.
We’re talking about human exploitation and its major icons.
Edited 2011-10-10 18:28 UTC
RMS said in an interview that: “Jobs exerted ‘malign influence’ on computing” http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/10/10/stallman_glad_jobs_gone/
I generally tend to agree with RMS. While I neither like nor approve the ways his ideas came into life; GNU, GPL, etc., I think the man has a clear vision of the past, the present and the future of not only computing, but politics and many more.
He is right about this: Jobs exerted a ‘malign influence ‘ on computing.
But, but, but Bill Gates, Larry Ellison and maybe mr. RMS himself could have ‘exerted some malign influence into computing’, too.
Saint iGNUcius, “malign influence”?! Heresy!