Woz calls Steve Jobs ‘Trumpish,’ says we shouldn’t worry about robots taking over

“Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak’s wide-ranging discussion Tuesday night at Carnegie Music Hall before a sellout crowd as part of the American Middle East Institute’s 10th Conference touched on his pioneering role in the personal computing industry, his thoughts on Steve Jobs, and why he’s not worried about robots taking over humankind anytime soon,” Paul J. Gough writes for The Pittsburgh Business Times.

“Wozniak is no stranger to Pittsburgh, having come here early in his Apple career to visit Pittsburgh-region teacher Milana “Mim” Bizic and her husband, as well as local computer clubs,” Gough writes. “And he’s come to know Pittsburgh in another context later in life: His son graduated from Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Computer Science.”

“‘It comes down to brains and books and not the geographical place you’re in,’ Wozniak said,” Gough writes. “Wozniak had criticism for Jobs, who he co-founded Apple with in 1976. Jobs, he said, didn’t understand computers inside and out and was prone to making mistakes about them, citing the Apple III and Lisa computers, as well as the early versions of the now-iconic Mac. ‘Everything Apple tried without me failed,’ Wozniak said to applause.”

MacDailyNews Take: That is certainly true until about 1986 when the Macintosh begat the desktop publishing revolution.

“He also noted that Jobs treated a number of Apple employees badly, including members of the Mac team that vowed never to work for Jobs again. ‘There are so many stories you don’t know about,’ Wozniak said,” Gough writes. “Jobs said nasty things about some people, Wozniak said. ‘Very Trumpish,’ Wozniak said… He said Jobs came back to do great things at Apple in his second time at the company… giving the world the iPod, iTunes and the iPhone.”

“He discussed the evolution of his thinking about whether robots threatened humans. He no longer thinks that robots will spell the end of jobs or humanity, that instead they’ll evolve to help humans live their lives better,” Gough writes. “‘If there is any danger, it’s decades off… I think, centuries off,’ Wozniak said.”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: What Woz did at Apple was brilliant. He’s a singular engineering talent.

Apple aficionados, if you haven’t read iWoz: Computer Geek to Cult Icon: How I Invented the Personal Computer, Co-Founded Apple, and Had Fun Doing It (2006), we highly recommend doing so – it’s much more satisfying than the cardboard-like recitation that comprises Steve Jobs’ official biography.

SEE ALSO:
Steve Wozniak to speak at ‘AI Deep Dive’ event on October 22 in Las Vegas – August 24, 2017
Happy 67th birthday, Woz! – August 11, 2017
Woz: Apple’s iPhones are priced very high because they are worth it – July 19, 2017
Apple co-founder Woz to headline luxury 24-day cruise to Antarctica – July 6, 2017
Woz on Apple Watch: ‘I just love it. I love every time I use it. It helps me. I love it so much.’ – June 14, 2017
Woz: Robots won’t soon take over most jobs – May 23, 2017