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This page represents only my own views, and not those of any university or other body. Posted Thursday 6th October 2011 at 12.08pm Jobsworth My facebook feed is full of comments like "The world has lost a true innovator and leader. A man that proved that if you believe you can change the world, you will. Rest in Peace Steve Jobs." I must really have become a cynical mathematician, because my first reaction to this was "actually no, he perhaps proved that it's possible to change the world if you really believe it. He certainly didn't prove that everyone who believes they can change the world changes the world" and then my second reaction was "well, it depends what you mean by change the world..." This reminds me of the joke about the mathematician, the physicist and the engineer on a train to Scotland. They cross the border and see a sheep out of the window. The engineer says "Look! Sheep in Scotland are black!" The physicist replies "Well, at least one sheep in Scotland is black," and the mathematician retorts "Look guys, all we know is that in Scotland there exists at least one sheep, at least one side of which is black." I watched one of Steve Jobs' speeches once, at the announcement of the iPad 2, or maybe the iPhone 4, because I had heard the hype but never heard the guy speak. It was mainly him walking slowly up and down the stage saying "The iPad 2 (or iPhone 4) is 10% lighter, 10% faster, and has the same incredible battery life. This is not evolution, it's revolution," over and over again. Apparently walking slowly whilst telling obvious porkies is awesome. Regardless, it's sad that he died, of course it is. He did a lot of great stuff. Even if you don't like Apple, you just have to like Finding Nemo.  Return to blog Comments Write a new comment: |