Editorial by Andrew McAffee:
Steve Jobs and Eli Whitney are not often seen as similar figures in history. Perhaps this is because there is too much historical distance between us and Mr. Whitney, and not yet enough between us and Mr. Jobs. However, I contend that in due time, we may see them as being so similiar in personality and method as to support notions of reincarnation.
As you learned in school, Eli Whitney invented the Cotton Gin. This is demonstrably false. Eli Whitney was responsible for (at the sugguestion of another person) adding a brush to the existing Cotton Gin machine, that had been in use for over a decade.
As you learn from the general body of available knowledge (news, blogs) Steve Jobs created Apple computers, the Smartphone, and the Tablet Computer. But are those accurate claims? Apple computers were a creation of Steve Wozniak, Mr. Jobs was responsible for being the public face. That is similiar to claiming that George Washington created the U.S. The Smartphone was a form factor that had already been under development for years by Palm, and even the touch based phone concept? Try IBM’s Simon from 1992. In 2002 windows released a version of Windows XP: Tablet edition. This was used primarially in laptops that converted between a laptop and tablet form factor.
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So, both of the notable figures publicly share the same misconceptions about their landmark achievements. They also have something else in common; a fierce dedication to their (supposed) intellectual property.
Eli Whitney’s early use of this IP was to attempt to take 40% of the cotton that was Ginned, whether or not the Gins used the added brush. This was considered laughable by the people of the day, and Mr. Whitney nearly bankrupted himself attempting to take what he considered his. Before Mr. Whitney was elevated to legendary status, he was not looked highly upon by his contemporaries. Many write about him unfavorably as being a jealous and fanatical man.
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At present, Apple computers has many outstanding lawsuits (I stopped counting at twenty), against other manufacturers of: Computers, Tablets, Phones, and even a (recently settled) lawsuit against a school based in British Columbia whose trespass was that their logo bore a resemblance to that of Apple.
In short, two iconic men, nearly 200 years seperated in time, share the same characteristics. And I believe that once we have the time for the Hero Worship to fade, that there too will be a frame of time when we wonder why we would have considered Mr. Jobs a hero. Perhaps we can even learn to view both men, not on the merits of their PR team, or their patent portfolio, but on their lives and their actions.
If that day comes, I fear that history will not be kind to either man.
