Steve Jobs died on Wednesday at the age of 56, causing a communal mourning that shook the internet. He was quite possibly the greatest inventor of our time, which, for our purposes, is as much an artistic descriptor as it is a scientific one. Jobs was an auteur, in the same way Antonioni or Godard was. His vision was not just grand, but particular, ushering in the age of the computer that doubled as design object, with Jonathan Ive by his side. In his own words, Jobs joined technology with the arts to "make our hearts sing."
But it wasn't just about making the coolest looking gadgets out there. It was about defining the way people went about their ordinary lives. Among other things, this translated into eliminating buttons because of an aesthetic objection to their look and a personal objection to their feel, highlighting the fact that form and function are as valued in products as they are in humans.
This attention to detail on a grand scale is what has elevated Apple from the technological world to shaping our cultural psyche. Obsession with technology was a pastime once relegated to the nerd class. To most, technology was merely a form of function. It meant that the telephone was just a means to an end, a device that let you talk to friends. But Jobs created new spaces for us to exist. He created objects we identified with the way we do with a purse, shoes or film. His objects, however, felt more meaningful than just material products. Why would you talk to friends on your phone when you could fiddle with the latest app? The antisocial, tech way of life soon became cool, as Jobs facilitated the space that would be filled with Facebook, Twitter and a new form of social life.
Click through our sampling of how Steve Jobs has influenced our culture and taken the nerdy to cool heights, and let us know what you think in the comments.
