Steve Jobs: Hi-Tech Trimurti

      In this blog, I have written many articles that combine science and arts. For those among you who are new to this blog, here is a sampling of the same:

• Watercolor Painting
• Parallel Universe of Digital Technology & Hands
• Sculpting Pumpkins
• Concept for a Nature Inspired Stadium Design
• As an architect I have written a book of short stories

      In my youth I was drawn to the field of architecture because at that time it was one of the very few fields that combined science and arts. With this as the backdrop, I bring to you the review of a biography of Steve Jobs, whose entire life was spent at this magical intersection of technology and artistry. A book that fits in very well, in the creative forum of this blog.

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Book Title: STEVE JOBS  (Author: Walter Isaacson)

      This book is a classic example of what happens when a good writer writes about a great subject. It creates a very inspirational story as the subject raises the bar for human achievement. Of course it is not an easy task to write the biography of Steve Jobs. Although Steve is no more, what this book brilliantly achieves is that it keeps his spirit alive and gives the reader a deep understanding of what this man was really like. How he grew up, how he thought, how he worked, how he dealt with human relationships and what drove him.

      The fundamental idea behind Steve Jobs’s life and what shaped his career and achievements was his passion to do something at the junction of technology and humanities. This basic theme repeats itself again and again in this book. He built companies where “leaps of imagination were combined with remarkable feats of engineering” and produced products “in which technology would be married to great design, elegance, human touches and even romance”. Products “that combined the power of poetry and processors”. What beautiful words by the author!

      The author does a great job of describing the environment that shaped his thinking from an early age i.e. “of growing up in a valley that was just learning how to turn silicon into gold”. Going to a college where geeks were discovering the hippies inside them. An environment in which the flow of cultural currents saw a fusion of “ flower power and processor power” and also “enlightenment and technology”. In the process of describing this fertile environment and how it shaped Steve’s life, the narration is further enriched with the viewpoints of over 100 friends, relatives, competitors, adversaries, and colleagues. The fact that the author personally interviewed Steve Jobs over 40 times adds to the authenticity of the material. With the viewpoints of so many people the writing has many entertaining flavors of wit, wisdom, humor, sarcasm etc. For a taste of this here is a quote by Steve when he is trying to lure Sculley to join Apple:

“Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water, or do you want a chance to change the world?”

 This book is also an eye opener into the work culture of Silicon Valley as it exposes the towering egos, the lack of civility, abundance of arrogance and attitude among the key players of the hi-tech industry. As the book progresses, you learn about the agony and ecstasy of creating companies and products and launching them in the market. But in doing so the author tells a great tale and reveals the creative genius of Steve Jobs. As he says it is ” about the roller-coaster life and searingly intense personality of a creative entrepreneur, whose passion for perfection and ferocious drive revolutionized six industries”.

      The more I read this book, the deeper became my understanding of the complexity behind this man. His binary thinking, mild bipolarity, mood swings, bluntness and his human interactions seemed out of this world. His lack of civility and an absence of social graces were simply shocking! Inspite of all these short comings, he seemed larger than a hero from an Ayn Rand novel.  As an architect, I started seeing influences of other legends in the products that his companies made e.g. they have the minimalism of Mies, they are finely detailed like Frank Lloyd Wright and they also have shades of Frank Gehry. Let me explain. Frank Gehry has an ability to steal ideas of visual concepts from paintings and translate them into buildings e.g. the pleated headdress in a Vermeer painting inspired him to design the roof in Maggie Centre. Similarly in the words of the author “he didn’t invent many things outright, but he was a master at putting together ideas, art, and technology in ways that invented the future”. Also “like a pathfinder, he could absorb information, sniff the winds, and sense what lay ahead”.

      If I were to summarize the essence of Steve Jobs in a single phrase, then I will call him the ‘Hi-Tech Trimurti ‘. Let me explain. In Hinduism, Trimurti is the merging of three Gods, namely Brahma – the creator, Vishnu - the preserver and Shiva – the destroyer. In this hi-tech age, Trimurti has appeared in the form of Steve Jobs. Here is a break up of these three personalities:

• Brahma: The creator of companies and products that have touched many lives all over the world, is a sign of Brahma.
• Shiva: Steve’s ability to revive Apple by laying off 3000 employees and focusing on just 4 key products instead of many crappy products is proof of Shiva.  As he says, ” We make progress by eliminating things, by removing the superfluous.” His detachment from materialism, aloofness from human relationships and an ability to  heartlessly end relationships that contribute to nothing and having a cult like following among geeks also implies Shiva.
•  Vishnu: Well his legacy says it all. Bringing about a revolution in six industries: personal computers, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing, and digital publishing raises the bar beyond normal human reach. Creating such a great legacy in such a short life shows a manifestation of Vishnu. Hence I call him ‘Hi-Tech Trimurti’.

      This book is a fascinating tale of how the play of genes, environment, nature and nurture create a unique individual. It also makes the reader question the educational system. A college drop-out who hates taking pre-requisites and instead takes a job at Atari, audits courses at Stanford and dreams of starting his own company at a very young age. A book that will charge your mind with the creative energy of Steve Jobs.

Ratna

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For all new readers, here is a seasonal post from the past: Tulip Shoots

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      A lot of us want to contribute something back to our species and to add something to the flow. It’s about trying to express something in the only way that most of us know how – because we can’t write Bob Dylan songs or Tom Stoppard plays. We try to use the talents we do have to express our deep feelings to show our appreciation of all the contributions that came before us, and to add something to that flow. That’s what has driven me.

- Steve Jobs