The Apple I, a Giant Leap for Technology. A Giant Leap for Thought

The Evolutionary Computer

I’m sure that we have all read the report about the original first Apple computer, the “Apple I”, getting sold on auction for over $600,000!

All this money for a 1-MHz processor inside a box with 4KB of short-term memory…

Wait; you don’t even get the box.  The Apple I was “compiled” by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniack in Jobs’ parents’ garage in 1976. The computer was sold in perfect hacker-fashion: The package came only with its components so you then had to install a case, power supply transformers, power switch, ASCII keyboard, and composite video display. But this was actually ahead of many of the computers of the day, as it was the first single-board microprocessor-based microcomputer (an invention that later earned Steve Wozniack a Fellow award in 1997 at the ComputerHistoryMuseum in Mountain View.)

So is this why an Asian client of the German auction-house, Breker, paid this massive amount for a computer that is (compared to today’s netbook) 250-times sub-standard?

Nope (at least I don’t think so). It’s simply a matter of great work.

Steve Jobs wasn’t just an inventor. He was a man that stood behind something, and embraced that belief to such an extent that this belief was inherent in everything he manifested into reality.

The man behind the Vision

Fortunately for the world, this belief was: progressive excellence. Some might have just summed him up as being a “perfectionist” but see; you can be a perfectionist and still not make a mark in history like he did. Steve Jobs didn’t just create products that chased excellence; he built products that actually re-defined excellence. Then he started this redemptive and rigorous cycle of iteration that resulted in products that were better, simpler, faster, “cuter”, more unnecessary, more expensive and even crazier than their predecessors.

This relentless aim to become better and better at what he did, is what we now remember him for. Yes, we can still remain nostalgic of yesteryears products every time we see that Apple sign but what we really remember is the face of the man behind the Apple of Knowledge. We lament at his contribution to not only technology but his contribution to the overall Evolution of Thought.

Through his great work, we learnt about how elegant and necessary simplicity was.  He taught us how to dream and how to achieve those dreams- through perseverance and through Loving every moment of our lives. He showed us how conformity was actually a barrier for progression; how important it was to follow our hearts.  He taught us how to connect the dots.

The Apple I was one of the first pivotal leaps towards our current technological evolution.

Isn’t it time you put your shoes on and took YOUR FIRST STEP?

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YOU ARE WHAT YOU DESIRE

Every whole person has wants, cravings, aspirations. We all desire something. We don’t, however, all have the same desires.

Some of us long to create something meaningful, to make a difference in the world, to eschew the so-called American Dream in favor of something better, something more deliberate, an experience-driven life of intentionality instead of a life pushed toward the wrong side of the consumption continuum.

On the other hand, some of us watch the luminous box flicking in our living rooms and yearn for the material things in its advertisements—the things that bring us stress and discontent and often keep us tied to a particular income, which keeps us tied to jobs we don’t love (or worse, jobs we hate), all so we can obtain the shiny objects projected on the glowing rectangle. [Read more on The Minimalists]