A Regular Guy, Apple Corp., cultural hero, Dean Ornish, Edwin
Catmull, Geist, Genius Bar, Great Man Theory, hagiography,
Hebrew Bible, Hegel, Insanely Great, iPad, iPhone, iPod, Isaac
Newton, Martha Graham, Mona Simpson, Muhammad, Pixar, religion,
Steve Jobs, Steven Levy, Thomas Carlyle, Toy Story, Winston
Churchill Who, among those blessed with extra cash, doesn’t
remember their first Mac? Or first iPod? Or first iPhone? Or
first iPad? Or, for that matter, their first visit to a sleek,
modernist Apple store? Or first appointment at the Genius Bar?
Will Steve Jobs’ death (on Oct. 5) restore us to agnosticism
when it comes to electronic marvels? Many had become faithful
converts to the power of high-tech. We had faith that each
invention would be better than the last. Apple’s product
announcements had teleological force—we needed to wait only a
little before another brilliant and stylish bit of Apple
wizardry paradigm-shifted our lives—yet again. And we were
justified in our faith. Revolutionary products did a