Andrew FrankScience fiction has often treated the notion of machines developing a human-like understanding of the world as a precursor to Armageddon. Steve Jobs set humanity and its machines on a course toward a happier outcome. He humanized computing. In a way that directly challenged the popular notion that machines are by nature embodiments of rigid, martial values, he showed how computers are capable of playing defining roles in the worlds of art, music, and basic human creativity. He made their power not just accessible but intuitive to everyone. He made machines sensitive to human touch.
Among the things he said in the now-obligatory 2005 Stanford University commencement address was that you can only connect the dots looking backward. I’m certain this is true of Jobs’ impact on history. As much as he’s eulogized in the coming days and weeks, his real influence will only be understood when we look back on the changes that occurred during his lifetime, and the role he played in leading so much of what redefined the relationship between human and machine. The details are unimportant.
A few months ago I attended a seminar at the 4A’s that examined the emerging role called “creative developer” in marketing agencies. I was overcome with déjà vu and nostalgia – I had this discussion – albeit with fewer people – in the eighties, as a game developer, and again in the nineties, as an interactive designer, about how “coders” could also be “artists” – and how this combination was going to be really important once the world catches up with the vision of computing and media fully converged. I now realize that Steve Jobs was the father of creative developers, and everyone who ventures to pick up that mantle can trace their roots to him.
The technology world will want to claim Jobs’ legacy. Technology has always valued its visionaries, its Bells and Edisons (even if some of them, like Tesla, never got their due). But Jobs changed the media world even more than the technology world. He revolutionized music, film, games, even print with his inventions. He changed our culture. He made computers important to people, and vice versa.
The world’s in a new phase now. Big shoes are empty.
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