while I like the idea expressed by the quote, I don't like the overall judgemental sentiment that "if you don't mold the world around you, you live a poor version of life". It reminds me of something that could be said by a cultist person coach. Nothing wrong or worse I think with living a simple life.
It's hard not to reflect on Steve Job's quotes like that and think about how Apple manufactures it's phones. What a reality they've created for the foxcon workers.
You do know that Foxconn has over 800k employees around the world? And that they manufacture a huge amount of the electronics we all use every day.
For some reason the notion of Foxcon == Apple manufacturer has stuck in the public consciousness, mostly because it brings in the sweet sweet clicks just by having "Apple manufacturer <bad thing>" in there.
One could argue they’re just following local laws. Though it won’t make any difference because their brand carries such weight and status that I find it will be almost impossible to vote it out with our wallets. We’d better shut up and just accept the new truth from our self appointed feudal masters.
Replace “laws” with “customs” and the sentence works. The Chinese leadership doesn’t care about its citizenry as long as $$$ keeps flowing. They are hardly unique in that, of course, but they’re more blatant than others.
I honestly think that's a simplistic view that allows us in the West to feel better about how terribly we're taking care of our own people.
Just look at the U.S. handling of COVID and how there's still no universal healthcare. China did a much better job here even if you think their figures aren't exact, (most likely true, but so is the case in places like Florida etc.)
I don't think they're somehow uniquely more corrupt that here in the West, they're however much younger, (convenient how we disregard our meddling there for centuries), they're trying to match the West in as short timespan as possible and of course they're going to line up their pockets along the way, as almost everyone with enough power and access does when given the chance, sadly. But they've also massively expanded the middle class and lifted people from poverty.
Remember the U.S. had slavery and yes it is appropriate to compare that since the U.S. had the same government then than it does now, China didn't.
As China grows in strength and prosperity so do its laws become more worker friendly as it transitions from a factory for the world to a more knowledge based economy. In other words it follows a fairly standard development trajectory, just on a much shorter timeframe so the abuses are more visible and less spread out, unlike in the West. Plus there's more technology to document it all.
I'm not much into Steve Jobs, never been an Apple user, but I get the impression that Steve Jobs was a very judgmental person, also on behalf of others.
Having said that, I personally also think that it would better if the non-molding was a conscious choice, and not due to lack of thought. I personally often see people suffer due to lack of possible molding.
On a fundamental level, living any kind of life, “simple” or not, is a fruitless attempt to discover the ideal way a life should be spent. There is no single, truthful answer to that question. It is entirely possible to live a simple life and adhere to the standard Steve set here - perhaps the simplicity of your lifestyle is the thing that will change the world.
It is unhelpful to most people on two levels - firstly, about half of us are below median intelligence. Secondly, not everyone can change the world all at once. There are too many people and too few things to change for that to be feasible. By the numbers, most people are going to have to be satisfied with having no real impact.
I think you are severely underestimating the local effect an individual can have by influencing life, albeit on a smaller scale. Not everything has to be on a world-scale. In my case, I love watching movies and discussing them, but never applied that in any way to my environment – until I started a small, local film club, which has given me a real sense of having a bit of influence.
I also like the general idea of the quote and I'm against calling someone's way if life "less", but I think the value to be had is from the realization and everyone should have that realization.
