[img]7|left|||no_popup[/img] Steve Jobs has sadly passed away and, befitting the hype that has come to be an integral part of the Apple brand, his legacy is subject to accolades both deserved and inflated. In the various editorials, obituaries and elegies that have emerged to pay tribute to an unquestionable force in business and technology, Jobs has been cast as our generation’s Thomas Edison or Walt Disney, a “singular figure in American business history” who, in the words of Yahoo! Finance economics editor Daniel Gross, joins the “pantheon of great American entrepreneurs, inventors and innovators, alongside John D. Rockefeller, Henry Ford and Sam Walton.”

Naturally, there’s no denying the genius and vision Jobs brought to an impressive array of endeavours, from popularizing the accessible personal computer through the Apple II – an admitted milestone that stands with the efforts of IBM and Microsoft in transforming information technology – to Pixar’s evolution into the animation powerhouse it is today. Nor can we underestimate his accomplishments in turning flabby, out-of-breath business ventures into roaring successes. Yet for all his genius and impact on the technology and entertainment industries, the value of his iconic legacy is questionable.

As a luxury brand marketed to people with an excess of disposable income, and as a status symbol whose exaggerated reputation belies a reality that Apple products are just as prone to the glitches and breakdowns of any technology, the only revolution Apple can be said to have achieved, frankly, rests in the way we produce and consume media. A cultural change? Perhaps. But also a far cry from sorely needed revolutions to solve ongoing diplomatic crises, address environmental challenges, relieve poverty or cure diseases. The brilliance of the Apple brand, as embodied by Jobs, is its ability to deliver elegant, hip design “solutions” to manufactured pseudo-problems. Granted, lugging a CD player back in the day was awkward in comparison to wielding today’s highly portable devices that can store an entire library of music. But beyond this practical concern, has the digital music paradigm shift, with its capacity to let users manage their music consumption in isolation, really achieved meaningful improvements over the record store experience, which at least involved some measure of genuine, face-to-face social interaction? Is the ability to watch television and movies at will on a highly mobile tablet device really a vital innovation? On this sad occasion, we should pause to examine the extent to which our lifestyle was truly broken prior to Apple’s resurgence.

Add into the discussion the high environmental cost of consumer electronics, designed and marketed to be frequently replaced, and Apple’s revolutionary sheen of innovation seems far less shiny. Treehugger points out, “There are nearly two cell phones in existence for every three people on earth. Despite the slowdown in production caused by the economic downturn, cellphones still have a high turnover rate: We tend to use a phone for only about 18 months, a staggering 12 months in the U.S. — long before the five-year lifespan the devices have on average.” Also consider this: Cell phones require the use of coltan, a mineral whose extraction in Congo threatens the already endangered lowland gorillas. As National Geographic discusses, Coltan mining leads “to a dramatic reduction of animal habitat and the rampant slaughter of great apes for the illegal bush-meat trade.”

So there it is, the tragic 800-pound gorilla neglected throughout the media’s attempts at canonizing Jobs. Rampant consumerism, ecological destruction and few tangible social benefits in terms of the world’s truly critical challenges – these are as much Apple’s dubious legacy as the delight that comes from the entertainment and convenient design of the company’s products. While it would be glib to reduce Jobs’s legacy to that of a mere visionary merchant of gadgets in a society consumed by an addiction to novelty, his success with Apple nevertheless embodies the paradox of a modern capitalism where economic triumph glosses over, and distracts from, the high social and environmental costs of our technology-mediated lifestyle.

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Assistant Editor: THE FRONT PAGE ONLINE

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