About

This is the weblog of Joseph Cohen.

I'm the founder of a company called Lore, which used to be called Coursekit. We're reshaping education for the internet age. If you are brilliant and want to be part of something extraordinary, join us.

Here, I focus on my interests: learning, creativity, invention, and design. Connect with me on Twitter and Linkedin.

If you want to get in touch, write to joe at lore dot com.

Inspiration

On Apple's core value, in 1997: "We believe that people with passion can change the world for the better." - Steve Jobs

"The details are not details. They make the product. The connections, the connections, the connections. It will in the end be these details that give the product its life." - Charles Eames

Steve

Tonight, for the first time, I feel that strange, deep sadness for someone I’ve never met. It’s the sadness people feel when their favorite musician passes away, when a captivating president dies. It is a unique sorrow, of both selfishness and altruism. 

Steve Jobs is not dead. But he has famously said that there is no Apple Steve Jobs and Steve Jobs the Person. They are one. Apple was as much in Steve’s DNA as he was in the company’s. He would only leave Apple if he was leaving this earth altogether. His life is his work.

I was probably around 8 years old when I discovered Steve Jobs. Steve answered the question of what I want to do with my life. It all made sense. We’re here to make a difference. To create something extraordinary.

I’m part of the Apple religion. I love their products, yes, but more importantly, I try to look at the world in “The Apple Way.”

Having a Mac in 2000 was weird, as a third-grader. Everyone had PCs, and gradeschoolers want to be like everyone else. But my dad persisted. “We’re a Mac family,” he said. And then I fell in love with the company. It represented the things that I wanted to be: different, creative, smart. 

Steve defined that vision. The press speaks of him as a tech mogul and the man who reinvented the music business. But I bet Steve doesn’t think of himself that way. It’s not about the money. It’s about building amazing things and changing the world.

I’ve dreamt of meeting him, but that doesn’t seem likely. Whatever wisdom of his is available online has inspired and guided me.

While his story as the leader of Apple is certainly his biography, his influence extends far wider. He personifies startup culture and a generation of innovation. The idea that one person can start something extraordinary. The idea that the entrepreneur is an artist. 

Whatever happens, he will live on in the millions he’s inspired. Thanks, Steve.

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