A new video of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs has surfaced, and it reveals an understanding of just how fleeting any person’s (or company’s, perhaps) position is in the tech community.
The interview was shared by the Silicon Valley Historical Association, and YouTube channel EverySteveJobsVideo uploaded it on Tuesday. The Loop is credited with being the first to notice the video.
Apple’s Place In The Tech Community
The video dates from 1994, and in it, Steve Jobs highlights just how fleeting his influence is in the tech community. In fact, he explains just how quickly the work of anyone in the tech community becomes outdated and obsolete.
“This is field where one does not write a principia which holds up for 200 years,” he said. “This is not a field where one paints a painting that will be looked at for centuries or builds a church that will be admired and looked at in astonishment for centuries. No, this is a field where one does one’s work, and in 10 years, it’s obsolete and really will not be usable within 10 or 20 years.”
Apple As A Layer In The Mountain
Steve Jobs went on to describe how each person’s contribution to the tech world is like a sediment layer. The day’s tech community stands on the surface of the mountain, but no one can see what those have done in the past, unless they have “x-ray vision.” Only the “rare geologist” will see and admire what the person did.
The fact that Jobs understood how fleeting his own position was in the tech world shows just how difficult it is to succeed in the field. Is it reasonable to assume that one company, like Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) for example, can continue to rule the tech world forever? Of course it depends on if that company continues to attract the right people.
So for those who are questioning whether the innovation has left Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), it’s worth considering that this may be the natural order of things in the tech world. Steve Jobs understood it, so why is it so hard for others to accept?
