Simon recently popped up with a few stray thoughts on the passing of Steve Jobs, which I found amusing because I'm more-or-less of the same mind on the matter.
Somewhat more interesting was this piece at The Contrarian. Or at least potentially interesting, since unfortunately it's a bit of tease; a wind-up followed by...the author directing the reader to read some New Yorker article that requires a subscription. Still, the author gets at an interesting contradiction that rests at the heart of the Jobs legacy. That being: The whole Zen idea of technologically-enabled impermanence and intangibility -- the dematerialization of music, books, etc. -- versus the fact that what Jobs & co. ultimately excelled at was getting everyone hooked on gadgets that were constantly being rendered obsolete in the ever-escalating turnover of upgrades and next-gen models. Because really, I think we can all be certain, despite what some parties would have us believe, that the path to Enlightenment isn't paved by slavish consumerism.
Which is an odd legacy to have, particularly since we're talking about someone who was of "a certain generation." So to with the whole i- angle -- the tech-enabled culture of solipsism/autism that Simon points towards in the latter half of his own post.
- sent from my iPhone™
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