Back in the 80's, mainframes felt like Big Brother.
- Back in the 80's, mainframes felt like Big Brother.
- There's an interview with Steve Jobs in 1981 on Nightline.
- This is before Apple did the famous Big Brother ad.
- The interviewer, David Burnham, pushes back on computing and says "mainframes are evil they reduce everyone to just lines in big brother's spreadsheet".
- Jobs basically says "no we're going to make personal computers, which are tools that extend your agency: bicycles of the mind."
- Feels just as relevant for this moment!