Wednesday, October 19, 2011
I can vaguely remember the first computer my parents invested in: some hunk of junk from Hewlett-Packard, complete with a snail-like dial-up connection and a speaker system always on the fritz. Today, I own an iPad, which serves the same purpose, but in a much quicker and easier way.
The recent death of Steve Jobs has been a sort of enlightenment for me. Reading about his fascinating life story and innovative way of thinking, it’s easy to wonder why more people don’t strive to think like him. He made it look so easy, day in and day out. He was direct, unforgiving, and thought not of where society was, but where society was headed.
Some have insinuated, though, that society is somehow “better” with his innovations. Better is arguable. Jobs was a man who recycled the age-old rhetoric of wanting to “change the world,” and he had the audacity to back those up words with action.
But “better” isn’t the right word to use to describe how he affected the world. You could argue that Jobs bettered the world in a similar sense that you can argue that the invention of automobiles bettered the world: What has simplified and streamlined one person’s life may have complicated or brought on economic or social hardship to another.
The iPad I’m typing this column on is evidence that the way we live our lives isn’t what has changed; we’ve just adjusted our approach to accomplishing the tasks we’ve always set out to do. Writing this column could have taken place on paper, a computer, this tablet or even a typewriter.
The fact that I downloaded the latest issue of Time Magazine and read it on my iPad before the magazine itself even got to my mailbox is a strong example as well. The ease and quickness by which we can access information and services today is a bit daunting.
As our world evolves and we increase our access to information and also each other, the way we interact with one another will change and so will the very nature of our relationships with friends, family and potential partners. Letter writing has been replaced by Skyping. Music and book stores are being replaced by online stores. Don’t fool yourself into thinking that your life has somehow improved, though. The idea of improvement is a societal construction that differs from person to person and society to society.
It’s human nature to desire something “better,” and that’s understandable. Jobs saw a potential in technology that others could only dream wildly of, which would make our world a better place. But again, our idea of “better” can easily conflict with another’s idea of what is “better.” Instead of focusing on improvement, we would all be better served in looking at the bigger picture. Only then can, we truly appreciate the portrait of our world that’s constantly being painted and revised every moment of every day.
— Brett Salsbury is a senior in English, history of art, and global and international studies from Chapman.
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