&gt; That&#x27;s not a bad thing, by the way. I think there&#x27;s something human and basically nourishing about thinking about strangers as people, and constructing even a fabricated, artificial form of empathy for what they and their loved ones are going through. That those emotions have no practical connection to the world we live in is irrelevant.<p>But the Steve Jobs persona, you describe how it was built in the previous paragraphs, was not a stranger to anyone. The whole Apple marketing team and Jobs built that. He&#x27;s less a stranger than some people you meet everyday on a commute.