Today is the 10th anniversary of the death of Steve Jobs.
I didn't really understand who he was at the time. I can remember seeing the announcement on my living room TV, but that's all I can recall about the day. I had an iPod touch at the time.
A few days later, my mom bought me a copy of the Time Magazine commemorating his death. I probably read it. I don't even remember for sure. More than anything, I just remember spending ages staring at the cover photo: Jobs, sitting on the ground of his unfurnished Woodside living room, cradling the original Macintosh on his criss-crossed legs, staring not at the camera, but through it.
I soon began sitting on my bed for hours on end watching past Steve Jobs keynote addresses. Whether he was pulling a MacBook Air out of a manilla envelope, gawking about how beautiful the translucent plastic of the 1998 iMac G3 was, or teasing "three new devices" when launching the iPhone, I studied every important moment.
I soon decided I didn't want any birthday or Christmas presents that year. All I wanted was money so I could buy a Mac. A few months later, and with a bit of financial help from my grandpa, I walked out of an Apple Store, MacBook Air in hand and smile on face.
I soon downloaded an open-source image editing program on that Mac and began experimenting more with how I could manipulate existing photos to make art or cool graphics. I am now an old friend to Photoshop and Affinity Photo and use these programs constantly in my work and personal life.
I soon began playing around in GarageBand on that Mac and decided I might as well try out the free piano lessons it offers. Playing guitar and piano and recording music in GarageBand and Logic Pro is now my most treasured hobby, and I cannot imagine my life without it.
I soon began falling down endless Wikipedia rabbit holes, jumping from hyperlink to hyperlink, learning about God knows how many random topics as I went. Wasting an entire evening doing this is still one of my most impressive skills.
Steve Jobs isn't my hero because he founded the most valuable company in the world and made a dope phone. He's my hero because he understood truly revolutionary technology allows people to create more, not consumer more. There's a reason he called the Macintosh a "bicycle for the mind": he built products that amplified the brain, not replaced it.
He's my hero because he personifies the interdependence of great technology, great art, and great consumer products, and he didn't stop until whatever product Apple was building was genuinely insanely great in all three areas. Apple doesn't exist without having a best-in-class understanding of all three components. If they didn't master all three, they'd be called Lenovo.
He's my hero because he built the tool that opened an entire world of creative and intellectual possibilities to 13-year-old me, an introduction which I am still feeling the effects of today.
He's my hero because he genuinely did think differently.
Thank you for everything, Steve.
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