| "Visionaries Who Changed the World" [message #70591] |
Fri, 23 December 2011 08:01  |
AudioFred
Messages: 377
Registered: May 2009
Location: Houston
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Illuminati (1st Degree) |
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The year's-end issue of Newsweek arrived yesterday, and there's a summary of the works of 16 "visionaries who changed the world". Among these people who died in 2011 are Steve Jobs, whom I would have expected, a few humanitarians, dissidents, and activists, whom I would expect to see in a liberally biased magazine, and a few historians, artists and scholars.
But the big surpise to me was Sidney Harman, who is recognized for "a career revolutionizing audio". With the almost total invisibility of hi fi in the mainstream media I'm surprised Harman was included. Than I read he was the publisher of Newsweek since August 2010.
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| Re: "Visionaries Who Changed the World" [message #70600 is a reply to message #70591] |
Fri, 23 December 2011 10:42  |
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Wayne Parham
Messages: 18786
Registered: January 2001
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Illuminati (33rd Degree) |
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Harman was the head of Harman International, so between that and his ties to Newsweek, I guess it isn't surprising he would be listed. But I agree with you, I don't think that makes for "visionary" status. When I think of visionary, I think of guys like Tesla, Galileo and Einstein.
Now, I know I'm going to take some stone-throwing for this, but I was never a big fan of Jobs either. I mean, it's sad that he died, too young. But beyond that, I just kind of winced every time I heard what "great things" he did for the industry. In my opinion, he was better at taking credit for work done by others than he was at actually doing anything. He didn't invent the mouse/GUI any more than Microsoft did, yet he took credit for it and ridiculed Windows as being a copy. Now I'm not a big fan of Microsoft or anything, but talk about the pot calling the kettle black. Same thing with Pixar. The real work had already been done by the time he got there, he just rode the bus. Sorry, Apple fans, I just wasn't impressed.
Now the Apple II, that's a different story. I was all about Apple back then.
What really cracks me up is how people get on about Zuckerberg and Facebook. I mean, talk about lame. That whole site is a hobby, just like many other sites. It's fun, I suppose, but how in the hell can people see stuff like that as life changing? Are our lives so bland that Facebook is seen as important?
Let's see. Turn of the last century, that generation brought us cars and winged flight. Next generation brought understanding of the fundamental laws of physics. Next generation applied it and made nuclear energy. Next generation brought us computers and put us on the moon. Next generation brought us cell phones and tied everything together on the internet. Then what do we say about this generation? Facebook? OK, now that's embarassing.
To me, there is always an unspoken genious and then there's a more vocal and charismatic person that gets the credit. It's like the Tesla/Edison thing. Edison was in the papers, and "Newsweek" would have been all about him. So my take from all this is don't read Newsweek or any other publication like that. In the audio world, that would be Stereophile. Can't say I've ever bought a copy of that magazine either.
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