A little note for Xiggi on Jobs

Parent Cafe
1

<p>From the Washington Post.</p>

<p>"Would this mesmerizing, infuriating man have gone on to found Apple had he been raised by his biological parents, or adopted by different parents, or raised in a different place than Silicon Valley on the cusp of the computer age? What unknowable alchemy of genes and upbringing turned Steve Jobs into Steve Jobs? </p>

<p>Walter Isaacson’s new biography of Jobs wisely does not attempt a definitive answer. But the contrapuntal themes of nature and nurture resonate throughout the fascinating narrative. </p>

<p>Jobs’s biological parents were political-science graduate students who later married and had another child who grew up to be the novelist Mona Simpson. It hardly seems coincidence that the same gene pool produced two artists of a different sort. </p>

<p>Jobs himself changed sides on the nature/nurture debate after meeting his biological sister when he was 27. ‘’I used to be way over on the nurture side, but I’ve swung way over to the nature side,’’ he told The New York Times in 1997. ‘’And it’s because of Mona and having kids. My daughter is 14 months old, and it’s already pretty clear what her personality is.’’ </p>

<p>[The</a> Washington Post Writers Group](<a href=“http://www.postwritersgroup.com/marcus.htm]The”>http://www.postwritersgroup.com/marcus.htm)</p>

2

<p>Oh–thought Xiggi needed a job…</p>

3

<p>Thanks for the thought(s.) While I am uncertain in how Walter Isaacson’s angle contradicts anything I stated before, I appreciate the attention. </p>

<p>:)</p>

4

<p>I was expecting a statistical analysis of trends in nonfarm payrolls!</p>

5

<p>Rats, looking for a clear self-study approach to bypassing the unemployment syndrome. Sorry Xiggy, you have made a name for yourself…</p>

6

<p>And I thought this would be a thread about how Jobs used the xiggi method for test prep, only to then apply to Reed, which doesn’t care about no stinkin’ test. :)</p>

<p>Or, that Jobs thought that Reed deserved a higher PA at least as high as Smith (and CMC)… :D</p>

7

<p>How does the “nurture” of being born in America factor into this? Let’s give credit where due. I think we know by now that all types, including the genetically smart, the crazy hard-workers, and the mediocre guy who was in-the-right-place-at-the-right-time, can do exceedingly well here.</p>

8

<p>Bay, seriously good point. A rhetorical question: Would there be an Apple if Steve Jobs had been born and raised in Syria?</p>

9

<p>I have a favorite example of that: A friend whose grandparents were the last of uncounted generations of old-hundred-name Guangdong Province rice farmers. They emigrated to Canada in the 1920s, and their children were a midlevel engineer and a schoolteacher who married and wound up in Los Angeles. THEIR three children included a software millionaire, people who were first in their classes at Yale, Princeton, and Yale or Harvard Law Schools, and two Supreme Court clerks (the only siblings I know in that club). Really impressive, important government positions – just fascinating careers. </p>

<p>What were those genes doing for 400 years, besides surviving? Give 'em a different social context, and va-va-va-voom!</p>

<p>I might also point out that Steve Jobs is not the only child of a broken relationship between a talented, arrogant Third-World graduate student and a rebellious American WASP to put his mark on this generation.</p>

10

<p>I think Steve Jobs would not have been Steve Jobs if he were raised by his own biological parents in America.</p>

11

<p>“How does the “nurture” of being born in America factor into this? Let’s give credit where due. I think we know by now that all types, including the genetically smart, the crazy hard-workers, and the mediocre guy who was in-the-right-place-at-the-right-time, can do exceedingly well here.”</p>

<p>That’s right, Bay.</p>

<p>That is why people should pay for the social benefits of this country…
Nobody made it on his/her own.</p>

12

<p>Of course, it’s hard to imagine anything changing and producing so sensational a result. But it IS interesting that his biological mother raised a full sibling in very different circumstances in America, and she turned out to be nearly as exceptional as he.</p>

13

<p>I was completely taken aback yesterday to find out Mona Simpson was Jobs’ biological sister. She’s a remarkably gifted writer. It seemed so “right.”</p>

<p>I used to be a big “nurture” believer and then I had kids. :wink: Completely their own people, right out of the gate.</p>

14

<p>I take complete credit for my kids - both nature and nurture. They would have been nothing without me (H only played a very small party).</p>

15

<p>I believe that siblings also play a role in how people turn out.
Would Mona and Steve have ended up doing what they have done if they had grown up together in the same household???</p>

16

<p>

</p>

<p>The testicular squeeze</p>

17

<p>Haha, I thought Barrons and Xiggi might have come up with some unique method or strategy for getting a job after graduation.</p>

18

<p>I just saw “Mozart’s Sister,” a feature-length film at the big screen, in French with subtitles. The brother-sister bond is portrayed beautifully. It was an opposite situation: biological parents homeschooling the sibs, squished together in a rickety wooden carriage while chasing gigs all over Europe. The father adheres to gender expectations of his era, much to the detriment of big sister Nannerl’s musical talent. With her luminous soul and intellect, she separates and preserves her deep affection for her brother nonetheless. Good film!</p>

19

<p>For those of you interested in the sibling influence, read the relatively new bio of Wendy Wasserstein…who had two unusually accomplished siblings.</p>

20

<p>Is the thread announcing that xiggi is taking over as CEO of Apple? Stranger things have happened…</p>