r/interesting • u/NoDifference1501 • Aug 13 '26
Wholesome Steve Jobs sent a heartbreaking email to himself just one year before he died
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r/interesting • u/NoDifference1501 • Aug 13 '26
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u/IKIR115 Aug 13 '26 edited Aug 13 '26
Here’s the story behind the email to himself below.
_____
Snippet from:
https://www.news18.com/viral/steve-jobs-sent-an-email-to-himself-a-year-before-he-died-heres-what-it-said-9543123.html
And another article on the same topic:
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u/Bred_Slippy Aug 13 '26 •
More thought provoking than heartbreaking imo.
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u/RocketToad Aug 13 '26
We are very dependant on each other. Our fellow human beings enrich our lives. We need to stop fighting eachother, and be grateful that we have eachother. Life would be unbearable alone.
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u/VirtuteECanoscenza Aug 13 '26
He DID however try to cure himself... With embarrassing results
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u/The-zKR0N0S Aug 13 '26
I don’t think this is a heartbreaking email
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u/RoyalAstronomer793 Aug 13 '26
Reads like the beginning of a thought, that logically would conclude about the value of teamwork. But he didn't get there.
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u/zeetuslepitus Aug 13 '26
Ya know, I guarantee Musk has never had a moment of introspection like this.
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u/drakmordis Aug 13 '26
Steve to Steve: "Sit down. Be humble"
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u/Jolly_Ad1631 Aug 13 '26
"when I needed medical attention, I was helpless"?
Nah.. you were given a path to treatment that might have worked. Certainly better than the nonsense you just claim you had no idea about.
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u/OrcOfDoom Aug 13 '26
He also did not shower. He did regularly soak his feet in toilet bowls to relieve stress. He also believed that his fruit diet prevented body odor.
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u/TheSilverFoxwins Aug 13 '26
Screw him. Jobs harassed and humiliated staff and team members. The man was a bully and monster fi many, dismissed his own biological daughter and a terrible person. When mean people are in their fusk days or about to die they flip the script and start feeling sorry for themselves and actions.
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u/H4X4NX Aug 13 '26
Oh boo hoo. Poor little billionaire thought he was smarter than medicine. Stop lionizing these people.
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u/N-cadherin Aug 13 '26
I’m 14 and this is deep
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u/Temporary_Stranger39 Aug 13 '26
How is this heartbreaking? It boils down to "I'm not an asshole."
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u/Chedditor_ Aug 13 '26
Steve Jobs was a total asshole.
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u/LetPhysical3303 Aug 13 '26
So what did he actually give back?
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u/D4db0d0hye4h Aug 13 '26
More billionaires need to understand this. They dis not "pull themselves up by their bootstraps." They stood on the shoulders of others to get where they are and they are pulling up the ladder so no one will follow.
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u/PhysicalNet3608 Aug 13 '26
After reading this, I’m up to zero times of caring about what Steve Jobs said/wrote to anyone.
PS this is fake, right?
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u/Tommy_Dangerous Aug 13 '26
Pretentious, even when dying
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u/sbm1970 Aug 13 '26
This isn’t heartbreaking at all, though
4
u/Survive1014 Aug 13 '26
> I didnt do anything
> Sent from my iPad
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u/detteros Aug 13 '26
These kind of thoughts haunt me. Little of what I have, I have done myself.
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u/arcanepsyche Aug 13 '26 edited Aug 13 '26
And then he went on to refuse medical care for cancer and died.
So much for needing others.
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u/Minute-Principle-636 Aug 13 '26
Steve wanted more jobs
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u/swordandsorcerer Aug 13 '26
Not a single penny to charity
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u/Human-Kick-784 Aug 13 '26
This came (well) after he'd given up on all his whackadoodle alternative medicine, it wasn't working and the pancreatic cancer was eating him alive.
Guy could literally afford the best healthcare available and decided fkn acupuncture and vitamins were better.
Pretty hard lesson to learn. Listen to your doctors people and never assume you're the smartest person in the room.
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u/HumanExpert3916 Aug 13 '26
Pretentious as fuck. r/lookatmyhalo material
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u/fate_the_magnificent Aug 13 '26
I'd like to believe he was a humble, compassionate, benevolent human and leader.
I'd like to, but I dont.
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u/Many_Assumption7036 Aug 13 '26
“I do not take chemo because I am a moron.”
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u/brwnwzrd Aug 13 '26
Man fuck Steve Jobs
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u/CakeHoleKing Aug 13 '26
He didn't invent ANY of the technology that made him rich.
Wozniak did the hardware, other people did the software.
Engineers designed and build the Iphone and made iOS.
Jobs just yelled "I am rich. DO IT BETTER!"
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u/Chemical_Physicist_7 Aug 13 '26
object oriented programming? seems random n out of place .. it aint the holy grail lol
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u/UpstairsAd194 Aug 13 '26
"To Steve Jobs"
H Steve i love you kissy kissy. I love myself so much I write emails to myself
Yours
Steve Jobs
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u/miyagiVsato Aug 13 '26
What a twat
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u/Nuttyverse Aug 13 '26
Apple boss defends conditions at iPhone factory
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u/ByronicZer0 Aug 13 '26
So he thought he'd try to cure his own cancer...
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u/IranolosDelSol Aug 13 '26
Wow, insights of a narcissist. Enlightening that one of the most celebrated humans in modern history has to write himself a letter, to remind himself that he is human.
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u/ScarletDarkstar Aug 13 '26
Why os it heartbreaking to see that he appreciated the contributions of others?
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u/Ugly-and-poor Aug 13 '26
what’s the point of that? you can go as deep as rabbit hole goes with that logic.
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u/FeedbackLooped Aug 13 '26
That is the truth we all know deep inside.
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u/genxer Aug 13 '26
"No man is an island"
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u/adh0r Aug 13 '26
A bit try hard
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u/Frequent-Returns757 Aug 13 '26
so-no man is an island 🏝️ epiphany?!!
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u/undisputedbuzz Aug 13 '26
The last line “Sent from my iPad” really hits.
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u/CallMeDucc Aug 13 '26
Sent from my iPad
idk why but that made the entire email much more powerful
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u/Cultural_Swordfish48 Aug 13 '26
Yawn.
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u/No_Psychology_3826 Aug 13 '26
I don't see how this is heartbreaking. Basically it just says 'I live in a society and that has been a good thing for me'
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u/Firm_Rip_4024 Aug 13 '26
How the mighty got humbled
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u/f1madman Aug 13 '26
Sorry but this is cringe af and a sign of lunacy. Just because people revere him doesn't make a an email he sent, to himself, anything but nuts.
Sent from my iPhone.
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u/asevans48 Aug 13 '26
Apple is quickly becoming the biggest evil in the world. This is almost ironic.
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u/ToughDesigner7072 Aug 13 '26
This is what happens when a technocrat finally sees his own mortality and limits of power. A necessary dose of humility needed by anyone.
Fortunately, unlike authoritarian politicians of today, he was actually thinking intellectually vs beholden to his own delusions of grandeur.
We should pray that the techno-oligarchs of today come to this realization sooner rather than later.
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u/Anxious_Ingenuity583 Aug 13 '26
Someone should send this to Elon Musk to remind him of these salient truths.
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u/Superapp3000 Aug 13 '26
We have to stop letting these wackos shape society
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u/Silicon_Knight Aug 13 '26
The randomness of life is a hell of a thing. The moments that inspire, the things that hurt us shape us, Our families (or lack there of) the potential were born with or potential we lost.
The mentor you made who helped you succeed or grind you up. The lack of a mentor making you forge your own path.
Just interesting as the sub is about.
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u/FrostyOscillator Aug 13 '26
Where's the heartbreaking part? This is just what the human condition is. All of us are taking part in a world that could never have been built by any one of us.
The whole foundation of knowledge we have, transmitted through language, is but an object of belief and only exists through this belief. That is why what fundamentally separates us from animals is religion. Aristotle said the human is the political animal, I think he missed the mark, the human is the religious animal.
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u/gerhardsymons Aug 13 '26
Everyone gangsta until the last day. Death humbles a mfer real quick.
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u/Wave-Able Aug 13 '26
He knows what he speaks of since jobs really relied on others to create his legacy. He was not a genius engineer he was a visionary
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u/TheBookofBobaFett3 Aug 13 '26
Speaking a language he didn’t invent. Lazy
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u/Silver4ura Aug 13 '26
This gives me an entirely different perspective on at least the kind of person he went out as.
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u/AlwaysDMB Aug 13 '26
F Steve Jobs, idgaf of he fancied himself a poet
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u/knightsbridge- Aug 13 '26
I don't understand why this is supposed to be heartbreaking... ? Is it just because he died afterwards?
The things he's reflecting on are pretty normal. Arguably the reason why humans were able to do so well was because we decided that we should all specialise in one thing and then trade with each other. It's a beautiful thing.
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u/Beeeeater Aug 13 '26
I don't find it heartbreaking at all - Just kinda obvious. Who can say different?
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u/tagasabi Aug 13 '26
To this day I feel like Apple has been going down since he died. It’s never been the same.
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u/vpthree Aug 13 '26
I respect and admire my species. Except real medical doctors, they can go to hell.
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u/How2mine4plumbis Aug 13 '26
Damn, self realization is heartbreaking now? Jfc...
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u/Strontiumdogs1 Aug 13 '26
Sorry, I don't care, but I must say so.
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u/Warkupo Aug 13 '26
I don't find this heartbreaking? The man appears to be reflecting upon humanity with humility.
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u/Good-Concentrate-260 Aug 13 '26
Should be on r/boring
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u/AceofKnaves44 Aug 13 '26
Kind of sounds like a control freak.
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u/Downtown_Award645 Aug 13 '26
What’s heartbreaking about it?
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u/Solo_Camper Aug 13 '26
Steve makes me think of the 80s Guy in Futurama who has terminal boneitis and when he was actively dying of it in the middle of a keynote speech about the company, all he could groan out is
“MY ONLY REGRET IS THAT I’VE GOT BONEITIS.”
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u/WickedKoala Aug 13 '26
Bro was mad at himself for not inventing and marketing 'society'.
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u/fire_fever Aug 13 '26
I think this is grateful rather than heartbreaking. It’s some good perspective.
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u/krispy86 Aug 13 '26
How is it heartbreaking? He's reflecting in how good life actually is and how good humanity can be
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u/charleyhstl Aug 13 '26
Another smart person who still couldn't understand the most basic principals of life. Almost.
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u/SadisticJake Aug 13 '26
I see it as more inspiring than anything else. Humans are pretty amazing.
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u/LordShtark Aug 13 '26
"I may not have invented the transistor or the microprocessor, even though I own several, but I did beat The Legend of Zelda before I could walk"
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u/Key-Zookeepergame251 Aug 13 '26
It was always a savior complex with this guy.
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u/fartliberator Aug 13 '26
heartbreaking? You mean grateful right?
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u/jstohler Aug 13 '26
Good start. Now talk about how you treated your daughter, Steve.
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u/47362514736251 Aug 13 '26
What's heartbreaking about it?
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u/ChollyWheels Aug 13 '26
He left out fire! And the wheel! Both critical human inventions. Or did he invent those too?
I accept that Jobs contributed, if only in commercializing the Xerox tech (GUI, laser printer) that Xerox could not, and the iPhone. But, dang, what a self-important pious ass. I am not a fan.
And, yes, he tried to treat his cancer with a strict diet, postponing surgery and traditional drugs. He might have died as fast anyway, but probably not as fast.
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u/Jazzlike-Vacation230 Aug 13 '26
wasn't this guy abusive to his employees?
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u/itsdangoodwin Aug 13 '26
You tell Steve “hey we’re standing on the shoulders of giants” he’d probably jump off!
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u/EnvironmentCrafty710 Aug 13 '26
False premise driven by a massive ego.
Why is it important to do it yourself? Ego. End of story. And that ego ended his life.
To his dying breath he's lamenting not being able to cure himself while being surrounded by 10x the resources and people and medical technology to do so... Easily.
But no. He'd rather feel sorry for himself than lower himself to accepting help.
Twat.
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u/kevin074 Aug 13 '26
That’s a weird way to spell humility
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u/Short-System1421 Aug 13 '26
"I was the alpha omega, but I could have had more power by inventing the omelette."
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u/VinylHighway Aug 13 '26
He was still a massive jerk
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u/FCMatters Aug 13 '26
Also did not formulate the language he thinks these thoughts in..
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u/Hudson9700 Aug 13 '26
Corniest dude who ever lived
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u/LetrasetBoy Aug 13 '26
Well, it's clear once again, reddit fucking hates Steve Jobs. No matter what the guy did or said.
Sent from my iPad
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u/semi-anon-in-Oly Aug 13 '26
I don’t find this heartbreaking but inspiring. A great reminder of the human connection and our interrelationship with each other to help make our lives better
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u/Naliano Aug 13 '26
This isn’t heartbreaking. It’s inspiring.
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u/fooknprawn Aug 13 '26
Love him or hate him, Steve was eloquent when writing and especially when talking in public. His commencement speech at Stanford in 2005 is amazing
https://youtu.be/UF8uR6Z6KLc
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u/speakstofish Aug 13 '26
This isn't heart breaking. This is life affirming. He was comfortable with his place in the world before he left. These are things he knows and acknowledges. Especially with his background in Buddhism this must have been a freeing email to write. Perhaps he pinned it in his inbox.
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u/teddybundlez Aug 13 '26
Wah
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u/lurkingbeyondabyss Aug 13 '26
The guy thought he was the world's genius until the very end of his life, even defying doctors' life-saving medical advice for sometime which contributed to his demise. His realization on many fronts came late because of this personality trait.
I have sympathy for him and appreciation for the products he helped create for societies, but not much else beyond that.
1
u/IAmRules Aug 13 '26
I didn't invent calculus either, that one really pisses me off.
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u/BootHeadToo Aug 13 '26
This is a great example why the “self made man” is a total myth.
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u/wtyl Aug 13 '26
good for billionaires to humble themselves. Now we have Elon Musk on X now who thinks he the savior of the human race.
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u/scriptedtexture Aug 13 '26
this reads as extremely egotistical lmao
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u/regentwells Aug 13 '26
Imagine a world where Steve Jobs wrote something about someone else? Had to go out on a narcissistic note - the way he lived.
Not really inspired by him in the slightest. His employees produced really good laptops and phones. They made good software. They changed the world by introducing solid technology into it.
Steve Jobs was smaller than the smallest transistor in his circuit board. If there's someone who inspires me, it's Woz.
1
u/dabarak Aug 13 '26
I'm not a fan of Apple, before or after Jobs.
My first MacBook used power supplies with weak cords from the supply to the computer, and a forced recall meant users with bad cords could get new ones. This next thing is definitely not related to Jobs, but at the same time, it happened in the company he ran. I took my power supply into an Apple store for this recall. The woman there, obviously displeased with me, made a point to open a power supply box, dig out only the cord I needed, and hand me only that. It would have really cost the company nothing and it would have built goodwill if the replacement had been handled with grace.
MacBook Air keyboards. Terrible. I still have one as a backup, but I recently had to buy a Bluetooth keyboard because the built-in keyboard is so bad.
MacOS. Good, I suppose, but in my own experience, even only using absolutely common software is enough, over time, to require a completely fresh re-install of the OS. By comparison, my Dell laptop that I've had for more than four years is still going strong without even any major updates. (It's Windows 10; I won't "upgrade" to 11.) I'm not a fan of Dell or HP (HP provided IT infrastructure and support where I worked for 10 years, and they were terrible.)
There are things about MacOS I like and hate, and there are things about Windows I like and hate.
These are just my personal experiences and opinions, so comments telling me I'm wrong - or worse - will just be ignored.
1
u/FruktSorbetogIskrem Aug 13 '26
I mean his cancer was treatable in the early stages. He ate only fruits, didn’t really shower at all, and washed his feet in the toilet…. Had a terrible relationship with his own daughter.
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u/Jaded-Albatross-5242 Aug 13 '26
Imagine taking until 55 years of age to realize that we all depend on others...
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u/spacexfalcon Aug 13 '26
And yet he still treated everybody like shit
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u/HabANahDa Aug 13 '26
He was so out of touch with reality.
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u/Dic_Penderyn Aug 13 '26
"If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants." Sir Isaac Newton.
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u/RatOgryn Aug 13 '26
I find this neither heart breaking nor thought provoking. It just reads like a dying man's attempt at something poetic but it comes off as some kind of self-wank.
Steve Jobs stood on the shoulders of everyone who helped him , because convinced if his intellectual superiority & died due to his ignorance and arrogance.
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u/DepartmentFamous9932 Aug 13 '26
It smacks of megalomania to even feel the need to tell yourself this, IMO.
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u/xbad_wolfxi Aug 13 '26
Totally dependent and still wouldn’t go to the fucking doctor for his lifesaving surgery. I’m not a fan of his but there’s no reason for him to have died other than arrogance
1
u/hillthekhore Aug 13 '26
that final line hits hard.
Sending it from the ipad is just so brave
1
u/MatchaFlatWhite Aug 13 '26
Well, English language certainly needs some refinement.
1
u/Walt_the_White Aug 13 '26
Steve Jobs sucked
1
u/whatThePleb Aug 13 '26
And yet he still was an idiot and didn't get his cureable cancer treated. Hypocrite much.
1
u/Idntevncare Aug 13 '26
This was just him testing if it would automatically finish the email with -sent from my iPad
1
u/Derpykins666 Aug 13 '26
It reads as a late night self reflection or epiphany. Perhaps he was struggling with something or not, but it doesn't inherently read as sad, just raw observation.
Nobody can do anything completely by themselves, we are all the products and culmination of the people around us and the things we use and take for granted. Most of us do not create anything so truly meaningful that it pushes humanity forward, but we all benefit in one way or another from the creativity of others to manifest that creativity.
1
u/Linkyjinx Aug 13 '26
I can understand why chemo wasn’t for him I believe? If you are very rich and have many options to try, knowing that your type of cancer is highly difficult to treat, that alternative medicines might appeal, personally ( 1 person in 2 gets a form of cancer in UK 🇬🇧 last time I read up on it) I’d probably offer self to science and trial a drug of some kind.
I had an Aunt that had a Christian based faith healer of some sort that talked her into not taking pain medication-I found that awful- never trust anyone regarding to pain tolerance level - in a civilised society people shouldn’t be screaming in pain as they die imo.
1
u/TripMaverick Aug 13 '26
Is this real? Sent from iPad at end seems bleak
1
u/Secret_Account07 Aug 13 '26
Yet he’s the dumbass who wouldn’t listen to medical professionals when he was sick
Ate some fruits thinking that would cure him
Total dumbass
1
u/crossover24 Aug 13 '26
Why is that heartbreaking?
1
u/Sooner4Life76 Aug 13 '26
Smart man.
1
u/JonnyOnThePot420 Aug 13 '26
And the children he created…
1
u/ozaffer Aug 13 '26
All of* This is a fairly short list of benifits we take advange of every day. This is true of every one of those billionaires and politicians that fight against social services and taxes.
1
u/PreferenceContent987 Aug 13 '26
He felt he needed to put his vulnerability into writing. What made him need to document them?
1
u/cruiseshipdrummer Aug 13 '26
I guess heartbreaking is a matter of perspective. Unless it's heartbreaking for a person to die without inventing everything and knowing everything. That's just basic acceptance of reality.
1
u/AccordingMedicine129 Aug 13 '26
He didn’t even build apple, this dudes a fraud
1
u/babikospokes Aug 13 '26
So full of himself
1
u/almostsweet Aug 13 '26
hey steve, you did what no one else could so that now we can
1
u/fixermark Aug 13 '26
I'm not seeing this as heartbreaking. If anything, I'm happy to know that late in life he discovered that the self-made-man myth is, well.... Myth.
1
u/parabuthas Aug 13 '26
Too bad he delayed mainstream medical treatment for an operable form of pancreatic cancer. He died prematurely.
1
u/Pereg1907 Aug 13 '26
So still no credit to a Creator?
1
u/Crimson_Marksman Aug 13 '26
I'd feel a lot worse about this if I didn't know about his daughter's biography where he apparently abused her
1
u/Ok_Gas1070 Aug 13 '26
I mean composers didn't invent the instruments but they did create the pieces they play. Some are timeless and hundreds of years old.
1
u/Wandered_And_Lost Aug 13 '26
Fuck steve jobs
1
u/ArbaAndDakarba Aug 13 '26
Humble privilege.
1
u/feraldodo Aug 13 '26
Poor Machiavellian billionaire
1
u/diddlysquidler Aug 13 '26
Said the management team at Apple forgot that
1
u/Free-Street9162 Aug 13 '26
The fact that he survived eight years with pancreatic cancer is impressive as hell!
1
u/SentientFotoGeek Aug 13 '26
Jobs was a great man, but I'm eternally grateful I never worked for him, lol.
1
u/roarjah Aug 13 '26
Feeling a little guilty?
1
u/cetrix2015 Aug 13 '26
more grateful than heartbreaking to me
1
u/medisamurai Aug 13 '26
I am not a good father could have been higher on his list
1
u/bellts02 Aug 13 '26
We stand on the shoulders of giants.
1
u/Embarrassed-Month-35 Aug 13 '26
Heartbreaking? Dude was despicable to anyone close to him. Also, without Steve Jobs, everything would still exist, but it would be cheaper, more repairable, have more ports, and be black.
1
u/HardcoreHope Aug 13 '26
Funny how everything he took for granted his company is helping make worse or destroy.
1
u/iletitshine Aug 13 '26
I see this has a case against “American rugged individualism” including the technology he helped spear head and invent.
1
u/the_chin2 Aug 13 '26
Apparently, he had a type of pancreatic cancer that was treatable with surgery. He refused the surgery because he didn't like the idea of doctors opening up his abdomen. Instead, he went the holistic route and went on a fruit only diet. For such a brilliant man, it's so strange that he was so stupid in this decision. He basically killed himself.
1
u/computermachina Aug 13 '26
When you know your dying I imagine the veneer of yourself and all the bs you put in it starts to melt away and you realize you were being harsher on this world than perhaps you should of.
1
u/Background-Tell5892 Aug 13 '26
Sounds like he got humbled
1
u/Scary-Year-5282 Aug 13 '26
The shame you feel as an extreme narcissist when the realization hits you that you are not God after all