Hippie or Nerd?

Robert X. Cringley's lost interview with Steve Jobs from a PBS series in the nineties, "Triumph of the Nerds" was found at the end of 2011. In the show, Robert had a standard question that he also asks Steve, "Hippie or Nerd?" In an interview full of hesitations and pauses, the immediate response is, "hippie."

Steve talks about things like knowing why you do things, business folklore, and humans as, "tool builders. We build tools that can dramatically amplify our innate human abilities." He talks about craftsmanship and the need to, "expose yourself to the best things that humans have done. And then try to  bring those things into what you are doing." He tells us great products are made from great content. There's also a formative story about a rock tumbler and a bunch of rocks that become beautifully polished stones. He tells us the process is the magic-- the friction, the noise, the group bumping up against each other-- for polishing stones and for collaborating with others.

Peace, love, art, and computers but without the love beads just black turtlenecks.

Robert X. Cringley's lost interview with Steve Jobs from a PBS series in the nineties, "Triumph of the Nerds" was found at the end of 2011. In the show, Robert had a standard question that he also asks Steve, "Hippie or Nerd?" In an interview full of hesitations and pauses, the immediate response is, "hippie."

Steve talks about things like knowing why you do things, business folklore, and humans as, "tool builders. We build tools that can dramatically amplify our innate human abilities." He talks about craftsmanship and the need to, "expose yourself to the best things that humans have done. And then try to  bring those things into what you are doing." He tells us great products are made from great content. There's also a formative story about a rock tumbler and a bunch of rocks that become beautifully polished stones. He tells us the process is the magic-- the friction, the noise, the group bumping up against each other-- for polishing stones and for collaborating with others.

Peace, love, art, and computers but without the love beads just black turtlenecks.