“A lot of companies have chosen to downsize, and maybe that was the right thing for them. We chose a different path. Our belief was that if we kept putting great products in front of customers, they would continue to open their wallets.”
Steve Jobs
If you haven't heard by now, Steve Jobs, co-founder and "HNIC" at Apple, passed away this week. Maybe you have better things to do than worry about a computer technologies pioneer passing away. I don't blame you; I'm still wondering why all the fuss. In fact my life, has been little affected by his passing. Well outside of the constant whir on the news, radio and television, about a man who made stuff. Granted, it is stuff people crave, going so far as to sleep on street sides and sidewalks in anticipation of Apple's latest offering, but it's stuff all the same. For purposes of full disclosure, way back in 1986 when my family sought our first home computer, it was the Apple IIgs, and for a brief moment in time I was a "Mac-kie". But that was another time, and though I feel more creative these days, currently it's the PC that has my attentions.
Still, Jobs was a force to be reckoned with indeed. I won't bore you with all the trivial details that you can find on any other blog or newspaper website; that you haven't already heard on the news story that's playing in the background. I won't pretend to articulate how tragic pancreatic cancer is and how devastating cancer in general is. There are far too many people living and or suffering from it's grip to dryly speak on it in this brief blog.
What I wanted to address, quite quickly, is the idea that for every person that is testifying to the greatness of Jobs accomplishments in the last few years; for every person who is romanticizing the mystique of the Ipod, Iphone, and now Ipad, there are countless who have suffered and even died for the device that is in their pocket or knapsack. Of course you might quickly imagine that I'm speaking of the thoughtless and tragic deaths that result from street crimes and petty thefts. True, these occurrences are ridiculous in and of themselves and only goes to show how tragic the wealth disparities are in this world. But then, those stats are not solely owned by Apple.
I'm more interested in the lives lost as a result of mining, or rather the illegal mining, for Coltan. What is Coltan? Well, Coltan is short for Columbite-tantalite, the dull metallic ore found in the Congo, as well as other parts of the world. Other parts of the world where it is mined legally. What is it used for? Well when it is refined, it is part of one of the major technologies that go into every cell phone on the planet.
So why am I even bringing this up; and more importantly what does this have to do with Steve Jobs and Apple? Because the manic hyper consumerism for all products Apple in the last few years, is the brain child of Jobs. It is the mantra that Apple is. It is people sleeping on sidewalks days before products hit the market, while conflicts in DRC are being driven by high demand for Coltan and the devices it gets built into. This hyper consumerism is made manifest worldwide these last few years and the conflicts persist as a result. It would be naive of me to believe that this is a direct one to one correlation, but the evidence does show the ramp up in African production of Coltan over the last few years. A significant ramp up. And I'm not even factoring in the environmental issues that result from mining. All the way around, bad deal. Better still, bad Apple(s).
You do your own research. this is just one Man's opinion. Well, at least two; my brother reminded me about this this evening as I was lambasting the twentieth news story of the day on Jobs. Don't go throwing away your devices on my account. But I pray, that you can temper your desires for the next and latest, hot off the presses phones and tablets, while blood is being spilled at your expense. And, rather than seeing the beauty in Jobs design every time you turn on or behold the simplicity of your phone, see the faces of people who give their last breath so that you can carry 10,000 songs around in your pocket. I'm just saying.
For what it's worth, my phone cost me $20 and has no camera; don't think it plays music, but after 1 year, it still works and makes calls after having been dropped in water several times and being dropped on the ground countless others. That's technology for you.
Brother Abahu, Jobs was a technology cult leader and that and that alone is why you've seen, read and heard all the fuss over his death. No one is going to discuss the negative aspects of how our wiz bang technological toys arrive. That's too thought provoking and would cause us all to leave the MATRIX which is our day-to-day lives. Simply put, I'm a technology guy and from that perspective I completely understand his importance to my industry but as a consumer, I haven't used his products since the 2nd generation of the Mac.
ReplyDeleteThe things you bring up won't get the type of media attention that Jobs death has brought but I certainly respect they fact that you've brought it to the attention of those who will see your blog. Thank you sir.
Give thanks for the powerful sentiment family. I too realize the cultist persona that Jobs had worldwide. In this day and age, I'm just praying that we as a people, especially we in the African Diaspora, can more positively generate the kind of emotion and sentiment I've seen this past week toward issues and not personalities. Then again, had I seen more African people in the west who actually knew who Leymah Gbowee was and the work that resulted in a Nobel Peace Prize versus how many Ipods Jobs created, maybe I would have felt differently.
ReplyDeleteThank you again for your understanding and comment.
Jah Love and Guide