{"id":14462,"date":"2011-10-06T20:54:43","date_gmt":"2011-10-07T00:54:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christandpopculture.com\/?p=14462"},"modified":"2011-10-06T20:54:43","modified_gmt":"2011-10-07T00:54:43","slug":"thank-you-steve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2011\/10\/thank-you-steve\/","title":{"rendered":"Thank You, Steve"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

We were in Barnes & Noble when my wife suddenly looked up from her iPhone and told me that\u00a0Steve Jobs had died<\/a>. To be honest, I wasn\u2019t surprised. Saddened, perhaps, but not surprised. When\u00a0Jobs resigned as Apple\u2019s CEO back in August<\/a>, I think we all knew that it was only a matter of time before the end came. But if I had to give a name to my primary emotion upon hearing the news, it\u2019d probably be gratitude.<\/p>\n

Jobs, as I wrote back in August, was a visonary in the truest sense of the word, a man who had an incredible impact on the way that we think about, and interact with, technology. And he did so, not simply by making the technology bigger and more powerful \u2014 though that occurred as well \u2014 but by making it simpler, more elegant, and more\u00a0beautiful<\/strong>. My iPhone is a beautifully enginered device, and I\u2019m thankful \u2014 truly \u2014 that I have something so beautiful, and yet so functional, in my possession.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t pretend to be a tech pundit \u2014 I\u2019m just some guy who has used and loved Apple products for nearly two decades \u2014 but this is what I think Jobs\u2019 ultimate legacy will be: he helped us realize that the smartphones, MP3 players, and computers in our lives are not merely gadgets or trendy trinkets. Rather, they can be tools that have the potential to actually enrich and improve our lives, if we are able to harness them well. Geeks and nerds may have always thought this, but Jobs was able to communicate that idea to distinctly non-geek audiences (like my in-laws, who recently bought an iPad) and then empower them to make it a reality like noone else could.<\/p>\n

Or, as Brett McCracken\u00a0put it<\/a>:<\/p>\n

[Jobs] was a populist advocate for technology, bringing it out of the provinces of geekdom and making it more user-friendly, accessible, intuitive. In an era when technological progress sometimes felt overwhelming and gizmos and gadgets too complicated to bother with, Jobs and his Apple brand focused on simplicity, user-friendliness, and an attitude of \u201ceven you can understand this device!\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So thank you, Steve. Thanks for the beautiful devices, like my iPhone, that you played so crucial a role in developing. Thanks for the relentless and inspiring pursuit of excellence and elegance. Thanks for\u00a0getting it<\/em>, for understanding and communicating the human side of technology, that technology is no good unless it allows humans to develop and flourish. And thanks for making it possible for more people to do just that.<\/p>\n

Thanks, and rest in peace.<\/p>\n

This post was originally published at Jason Morehead\u2019s personal web site, Opus.fm<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A word about a man who changed everything with technology by letting humanity flourish. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1223,"featured_media":14464,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headline","category-technology"],"yoast_head":"\nThank You, Steve<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A word about a man who changed everything with technology by letting humanity flourish.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2011\/10\/thank-you-steve\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Thank You, Steve\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A word about a man who changed everything with technology by letting humanity flourish.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2011\/10\/thank-you-steve\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Christ and Pop Culture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-10-07T00:54:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jason Morehead\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jason Morehead\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2011\/10\/thank-you-steve\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2011\/10\/thank-you-steve\/\",\"name\":\"Thank You, Steve\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-10-07T00:54:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-10-07T00:54:43+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/#\/schema\/person\/37866f912978aba01c775c555a6b5338\"},\"description\":\"A word about a man who changed everything with technology by letting humanity flourish.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2011\/10\/thank-you-steve\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2011\/10\/thank-you-steve\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2011\/10\/thank-you-steve\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Thank You, Steve\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/\",\"name\":\"Christ and Pop Culture\",\"description\":\"Where the Christian faith meets the common knowledge of our age\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/#\/schema\/person\/37866f912978aba01c775c555a6b5338\",\"name\":\"Jason Morehead\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a84f229aedbb6d82c32060a21113a5a2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a84f229aedbb6d82c32060a21113a5a2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jason Morehead\"},\"description\":\"Jason Morehead lives in the lovely state of Nebraska with his wife, three children, zero pets, and a large collection of CDs, DVDs, books, and video games. He's a fan of Arcade Fire and Arvo P\u00e4rt, Jackie Chan and Andrei Tarkovsky, \\\"Doctor Who\\\" and \\\"Community,\\\" and C.S. Lewis and Haruki Murakami. He's also a web development geek, which pays the bills \u2014 and buys new music and movies. Twitter: @jasonopus. Web: http:\/\/opus.fm.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/opus.fm\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/author\/jmorehead\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Thank You, Steve","description":"A word about a man who changed everything with technology by letting humanity flourish.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2011\/10\/thank-you-steve\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Thank You, Steve","og_description":"A word about a man who changed everything with technology by letting humanity flourish.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2011\/10\/thank-you-steve\/","og_site_name":"Christ and Pop Culture","article_published_time":"2011-10-07T00:54:43+00:00","author":"Jason Morehead","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jason Morehead","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2011\/10\/thank-you-steve\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2011\/10\/thank-you-steve\/","name":"Thank You, Steve","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-10-07T00:54:43+00:00","dateModified":"2011-10-07T00:54:43+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/#\/schema\/person\/37866f912978aba01c775c555a6b5338"},"description":"A word about a man who changed everything with technology by letting humanity flourish.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2011\/10\/thank-you-steve\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2011\/10\/thank-you-steve\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2011\/10\/thank-you-steve\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Thank You, Steve"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/","name":"Christ and Pop Culture","description":"Where the Christian faith meets the common knowledge of our age","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/#\/schema\/person\/37866f912978aba01c775c555a6b5338","name":"Jason Morehead","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a84f229aedbb6d82c32060a21113a5a2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a84f229aedbb6d82c32060a21113a5a2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jason Morehead"},"description":"Jason Morehead lives in the lovely state of Nebraska with his wife, three children, zero pets, and a large collection of CDs, DVDs, books, and video games. He's a fan of Arcade Fire and Arvo P\u00e4rt, Jackie Chan and Andrei Tarkovsky, \"Doctor Who\" and \"Community,\" and C.S. Lewis and Haruki Murakami. He's also a web development geek, which pays the bills \u2014 and buys new music and movies. Twitter: @jasonopus. Web: http:\/\/opus.fm.","sameAs":["http:\/\/opus.fm\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/author\/jmorehead\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1223"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14462"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14462\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}