Technology and religion

The two extreme creations (the most ancient and the most recent) created by brilliant humans; religion by Lord Buddha, Lord Jesus Christ and Prophet Muhammad and similarly (not intended in making a comparison in persons but there have been creators of technology where today we live by and depend on like a prayer) without which we would be equally lost in life. May not be so for a generation before, but for sure for the ones ahead and to a great extent for the current.

Then there were the Mahatma Gandhis, Mother Theresas, Dalai Lamas (of course many more such as the Nelson Mandelas) of the world who created a difference based on the fundamentals and principals prior created for the sake of humanity and for a similar cause of establishing a better life. If you look at it deep down it creates humanity and continuity.

It has been and is common that legends in sports, music and other different arenas are considered to be gods (not literally but for gratitude and appreciation) followed and believed in for the contributions they’ve done.

Similarly in this new era there are technology creators and disciples who take it forward giving all of us that edge and the difference to be better in what we do (not necessarily from a spiritual perspective) but to do and continue to do and be better in what we do. Today there’s no boundary in technology on what we do and depend on to do.

The reason for this article is a FB share by a friend that gave me a perspective of similarity of the two in general life. Again I wish to reiterate that this is in no form of making a personal comparison but to realise how certain aspects of today’s offerings can be equally impacting to life.

In this case is a reference to a great creator of technology, Steve Jobs, and his sentiments: Need to make a note that at the rapid pace it grows in technology years may be compared to actual years in a lifetime. (We’ve seen through the life of personalities such as of Steve Jobs and quickly realised the impact they’ve done and what it will be in the future. Similarly the greater spiritual creators we’ve known from past literature, believe in it or not but they have created an everlasting impact.)

Sharing the same story as below (courtesy http://www.cultofmac.com) with my short comments against each point (as AD) to give my analogy and a rational to the current context. I have kept my comments short and simple to highlight the depth of the meaning of his sentiments.

In my response to my friend’s FB post I said: This is Jobs with his eight commandments instead of 10. From being in exile (as Lord Jesus Christ did at some point) what’s learnt is reviled back for a better life; in a different form is what Jobs’ given (as per his sentiments in this article).

I may miss out due to my ignorance and lack of knowledge (please do pardon me) but particularly one acted similar in this case too (betrayal – as in point No. 2 intentionally or not). The article goes:

Steve Jobs’ career is usually discussed in two major segments – his early years when he co-founded Apple with Woz, and then the latter end of his life when he returned to Apple and resurrected the company with one hit product after another.

But 11 years passed between the time that Steve was kicked out of Apple and the time he returned to save the company. Many people call those years his ‘Wilderness Years’ as he struggled to cope with getting kicked out of Apple.

What many view as a dark period of exile, Brent Schlender claims it was actually one of the happiest periods in Jobs’ life. Writing an article about Jobs’ time in exile, Schlender rediscovered his trove of lost interview tapes he recorded with Jobs during those ‘Wilderness Years’.

The entire article is riddled with new Steve Jobs quotes and ideas that haven’t been heard before, but here are the eight best:

AD: This isn’t a story of a finder and a creator and not a loser that has brought about a standard to bring the world together uplift livelihood (as I mentioned above there are others too have made great contributions but this is about one such person).

1. Steve had some revolutionary ideas about NeXT becoming a model ‘Open Corporation’

“Think of it this way, if you look at your own body, your cells are specialised, but every single one of them has the master plan for the whole body. We think our company will be the best possible company if every single person working here understands the whole master plan and can use that as a yardstick to make decisions against. We think a lot of little and medium and big decisions will be made better if all our people know that.”

AD: Going against the odds and revolutionising to create a better world.

2. Jobs compared Sculley to the Wicked Witch of the West, only 20 times less hip

Sculley had “poisoned” the culture of the place. As the years went by, and Apple’s fortunes dimmed, Jobs’s attacks became more pointed: “Right now it’s like the Wicked Witch in The Wizard of Oz: ‘I’m melting. I’m melting,’ the jig is up. They can’t seem to come out with a great computer to save their lives. They need to spend big on industrial design, reintroduce the hipness factor. But no, they hire Gil Amelio as CEO. It’s as if Nike hired the guy that ran Kinney shoes.”

AD: As mentioned above the betrayal against the unity and belief of creating a better world.

3. Rather than sending his assistant to buy presents for his wife and kids, Jobs liked to go buy them himself

I bumped into him on one of his walks… and wound up joining him as he shopped for a new bicycle for Laurene’s upcoming birthday. This was before you could do your homework on the internet, but he had done his research, so there wasn’t much shopping involved. We were in and out of Palo Alto Bicycles in 10 minutes. “I’d never have Andrea do something like this,” he said, referring to his long-time administrative assistant. “I like buying presents for my family myself.”

AD: You are tasked to deliver/do a job; do it yourself by example and create that difference.

4. IBM knew nothing about their industry

“The people at the top of IBM knew nothing about computers. Nothing. Nothing. The people at the top of Disney,” on the other hand, “know a lot about what a really good film is and what is not.”

AD: They who think they know it all and think no end of themselves don’t accept but try to kill the new creator (the revolutionary) – I may never get a job at IBM but the reference is to the giant it was and the attitude then.

5. Jobs could have moonlighted as a marriage counsellor

“One way to drive fear out of a relationship is to realise that your partner’s values are the same as yours, that what you care about is exactly what they care about. In my opinion, that drives fear out and makes for a great partnership, whether it’s a corporate partnership or a marriage.”

AD: Build confidence and understanding to gain acceptance.

6. Companies should be careful with their incentive structures

“Incentive structures work. So you have to be very careful of what you incent people to do, because various incentive structures create all sorts of consequences that you can’t anticipate. Everybody at Pixar is incented to build the company: whether they’re working on the film; whether they’re working on a potential direct-to-video product; whether they’re working on a CD-ROM. whatever their combination of creative and technical talent may be, we want them incented to make the whole company successful.”

AD: Appreciation to achieve goals, objectives and better results.

7. Dude was so crazy into details, even when brick walls were built for Pixar’s headquarters

The custom-made bricks came in 12 shades, and if the colours weren’t distributed evenly enough, Jobs would have the bricklayers pull them down and do it again. He would visit the construction site as often as he could as it came together, often clambering around the buildings at night, when no one but the security guards were around.

AD: Precision to make an everlasting impact and a solid foundation.

8. Jobs probably enlisted Walter Isaacson to write his biography because he understood that people remember great stories more than they remember a great product

“The technology we’ve been labouring on over the past 20 years becomes part of the sedimentary layer. But when Snow White was re-released [on DVD, in 2001], we were one of the 28 million families that went out and bought a copy of it. This was a film that is 60 years old, and my son was watching it and loving it. I don’t think anybody’s going to be beating on a Macintosh 60 years from now.”

AD: Created and written (in stone) to last forever and ensure continuity.

Apart from my perspective on the above, this was shared as it is clearly oriented as inspiration to achieve higher goals with a simpler aspect and approach to life.



(The writer has almost 20 years of IT industry experience with exposure to top local companies and multinationals by working for and servicing customers and has gained vast knowledge in industry trends and processes. Special areas of interest in the telco industry, believing true convergence would be through applications’ ability to adapt.)