Wednesday, October 12, 2011

the forbidden fruit...,

Salon | It’s fascinating to juxtapose America’s reverence for Steve Jobs’ accomplishments and its draconian drug policy with this, from the New York Times‘ obituary of Jobs:
[Jobs] told a reporter that taking LSD was one of the two or three most important things he had done in his life. He said there were things about him that people who had not tried psychedelics — even people who knew him well, including his wife — could never understand.
Unlike many people who have enjoyed success, Jobs is not saying that he was able to succeed despite his illegal drug use; he’s saying his success is in part — in substantial part — because of those illegal drugs (he added that Bill Gates would “be a broader guy if he had dropped acid once”). These quotes (first published by a New York Times reporter) have been around for some time but have been only rarely discussed in the recent hagiographies of Jobs: a notable omission given that he himself praised those experiences as an integral part of his identity and one of the most important things he ever did. A surprisingly good Time Magazine article elaborates on this Jobs-LSD connection further:

5 comments:

brotherbrown said...

That may have been the premise, but almost everything to do with illegal versus legal drugs is rooted in somebody's economic interests.  Did you know part of the legend of the famous budweiser clydesdales is that they were a gift from August Jr and Adolphus to August Busch Sr. to celebrate the end of prohibition?  Their first order of duty was to deliver a case of beer to President Roosevelt at the White House.  Must've had a case lying around since before prohibition. ;o)

Big Don said...

"the former Apple chief (and indeed many other top technology pioneers) appeared to have found enduring inspiration in LSD",

Back in 1969, after Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon, the media went nuts sensationalizing the event, much more so than with the death of Steve Jobs.  Madison Ave was taking advantage of this by linking all kinds of products to the space program in whatever manner possible.  Believe it was Newsweek that had a short article  noting all the products that were attempting to get noticed and cash in with such ads.  One hilarious line in that article noted a whiskey ad and commented to the effect that "even [name of distillery], whose true contribution to the space program will never be known, had ads featuring space program references..."

Tom said...

Hmmm

CNu said...

The history of the control and suppression of hallucinogens is somewhat different from what you've noted above brotherbrown. Right off the top, hallucinogens are non-addictive and intrinsically self-limiting.

So no, there is something else altogether involved with the many centuries long suppression of these most crucial solvents...,

Temple3 said...

Well, who wants the people to WAKE UP. No drugs!!!!!

Master Arbitrageur Nancy Pelosi Is At It Again....,

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