> Powell Jobs and Jobs' sister have said in a statement that the book "differs dramatically from our memories of those times."
I've learned from experience that people who aggressively denounce others publicly sometimes have stuff going on that isn't readily visible.
It's not that I want Jobs to be free of moral stain. I have no investment in it. But people should be cautious trusting a report of one person's disputed report.
Jobs was a raging asshole and misanthropist famous for treating his coworkers and employees like shit -- luckally he was able to deliver, and everyone forgets that shitty behavior.
it's not crazy to think he was like at that home, too.
There's no question in my mind that having kids gets in the way of single-minded vision that's required of the kind of career success that Jobs had.
It's unfortunate, but the reality is that having kids and actually caring for them in a way that gives the best chance to turn them into good, undamaged human beings requires a massive amount of attention that would heavily distract from lofty career goals.
If the drive for career success is strong enough, kids will be resented and treated as such. It sucks, and they probably shouldn't have had kids in the first place, but the biological imperative is incredibly difficult to overcome.
Being absent for work is different than being cruel.
As a counterpoint I would highlight Buffet, Branson, and others who have managed to fulfill their obligations to the next generation without failing to dominate their industries.
There is no excuse for cruelty to children, doubly so when they are your own. Jobs was an asshole because he was an asshole, not because he was driven.
Have you read the article? He didn't just ignore her. He combined periods where he ignored her with periods of caring only to hurt her in dark ways.
> Once, she says, as Jobs groped his wife and pretended to be having sex with her, he demanded that Brennan-Jobs stay in the room, calling it a "family moment." He repeatedly withheld money from her, told her that she would get "nothing" from his wealth — and even refused to install heat in her bedroom.
It's all very nuanced, but to put it overly bluntly: career-orientation is about power and control and self image. My understanding is that it's all mental illness related behavior.
Happy to be disagreed with, it's just my experience of the world.
> There's no question in my mind that having kids gets in the way of single-minded vision that's required of the kind of career success that Jobs had.
It's a common misconception because so many psychopaths become examples of "successful businessmen" but they're not successful PEOPLE. Steve's arrogance literally killed him, his insistence he knew better than everyone made him ignore his cancer until it was too late.
No one should try to be the next Steve Jobs. Be better than he was, better to your family, better to your employees, better to your friends. There's no one Steve didn't try to screw at some point. That's not success.
When Jobs was alive I could still play YouTube videos with my screen locked, I could listen to music with a set of conventional headphones, and iOS did not yet suffer from the storage bug.
I'm in no way attempting to do that. I live my life in the opposite manner, I have two great kids (that are my lifetime greatest achievement) and a "career" that pays the bills that I could totally take or leave (pending the ability to pay the bills).
it seems quaint to dunk on Jobs now...he seems like a saint in comparison, in light of Mao Zedong-style mass-murder-by-policy from the current crop of tech industry CEOs.
> Musk has pushed back against guardrails for Grok [...] Musk has “been unhappy about over-censoring” on Grok “for a long time.” [...] At one meeting in recent weeks before the latest controversy erupted, Musk held a meeting with xAI staffers from various teams where he “was really unhappy” over restrictions on Grok’s Imagine image and video generator
...how are the shareholders not in revolt over this?
Your comment makes me interested in the hypothetical of how Jobs would have positioned Apple under the current administration.
I haven't read much about Tim Cook being anywhere near the level of sycophant, or raising the curtain to show the ugliness behind, as much as some of the others.
To make sure history doesn't only remember the good things like their accomplishments. He was often really mean in person, that's pretty clear from his biography (and I also heard from some people who met him). Seeing him remembered as a tech saint is weird then.
I'm glad I never worked for Apple while he was there. Though I have unfortunately worked for someone with very similar traits.
Even though he is dead and can no longer improve himself, people will use him as a role model and idolize all the bad stuff too.
> Seeing him remembered as a tech saint is weird then.
Hero worship is always pretty weird. I wish we would do less of it in general. But for Steve Jobs, I feel like negative reports about his character were pretty well known during his life and after his death. I don't feel like I've seen a lot of positive only content about him now that his death isn't so recent (maybe a little bit in the context of people hating on current Apple products), unlike some other celebrities where people seem to forget all of the misconduct (alleged or proven) during their lifetime.
I did work for Apple while he was there, and he was entirely decent.
I came to believe that there was a bratty entitled personality from his 20s that gave rise to most the jerk stories people reference, and that he wised up after being ousted (probably for being that jerk). He was essentially exiled for the better part of a decade.
depends on their legacy. If a a policy maker died but still has bills and laws in flight, it's an easy way to kill those. As well as any proteges that were running for office.
For me, it is important to know and reflect on these stories so we can collectively heal and learn from them, regarding child abuse, narcissism, and especially (what is also mentioned in the article) enabling such abuse. This is why I posted it.
If we bury these stories, and always only talk about it when people are long dead or not at all, we as communities will not evolve out of those patterns. A culture that "honors the dead" by not talking about the bad stuff they've done is catering to its abusers.
Today, we should talk about Trump, Musk, etc, also in the light of how they treat their children. And what we can and should do to protect those that cannot protect themselves.
We all have responsibility - the ability to respond. If we look away from the stories, we will also look away when something happens near us. And it should encourage us to grow in how we treat other people (especially children) around us. Yes, this can bring up difficult feelings about our own acts, and our own childhood experiences. And it should.
He is a canonized saint of Catholicism and revered as a virtuous defender of Christianity. More evidence based history instead indicates he was a narcissist primarily motivated to elevate himself politically in Alexandria which included wide spread murder and the destruction of the greatest intellectual institution the world had ever seen.
Really? I have heard plenty of "Jobs was an asshole" comments, every time his name comes up. The most consistent assessment seems to be "he was talented, lucky, and a real asshole to work for."
Readit News
> Powell Jobs and Jobs' sister have said in a statement that the book "differs dramatically from our memories of those times."
I've learned from experience that people who aggressively denounce others publicly sometimes have stuff going on that isn't readily visible.
It's not that I want Jobs to be free of moral stain. I have no investment in it. But people should be cautious trusting a report of one person's disputed report.
Nor is it uncommon that "the stepmom doesn't like the estranged kids"
Nor is it uncommon that a deadbeat dad is an asshole.
Whether or not it's true, common sense and the available evidence certainly favor Lisa.
it's not crazy to think he was like at that home, too.
Wolverton seems to be publicly denouncing Jobs and Powell Jobs aggressively
Powell Jobs and Jobs' sister are not publicly denouncing Brennan-Jobs aggressively
They said they have different memories
By Wolverton's account, Brennan-Jobs is not publicly denouncing Jobs aggressively
Wolverton writes that she recalls memories of Jobs not to "condemn him" but to "make peace" with Jobs and Powell Jobs
Did Jobs ever publicly denounce anyone aggressively
Did he have "stuff going on that isn't readily visible"
Who knows
What we don't know is no reason to doubt what is "readily visible", absent any evidence presented to the contrary
For example,
https://people.com/parents/all-about-steve-jobs-kids/
"But people should be cautious trusting a report of one person's disputed report."
Jobs admitted to lying about being "sterile and infertile" to avoid paying child support
Such dishonesty would make some people hesitate to trust any prior "reports" from Jobs
They might think, "If he was willing to lie about that, then what else was he willing to lie about"
That sort of caution seems justified
The evidence, i.e., dishonesty, is readily visible, it cannot be ignored
Powell Jobs and the sister might have a personal interest in questioning the accuracy of Bernnan-Jobs' memoir
Especially if the book describes what might be interpreted as abuse
It's unfortunate, but the reality is that having kids and actually caring for them in a way that gives the best chance to turn them into good, undamaged human beings requires a massive amount of attention that would heavily distract from lofty career goals.
If the drive for career success is strong enough, kids will be resented and treated as such. It sucks, and they probably shouldn't have had kids in the first place, but the biological imperative is incredibly difficult to overcome.
As a counterpoint I would highlight Buffet, Branson, and others who have managed to fulfill their obligations to the next generation without failing to dominate their industries.
There is no excuse for cruelty to children, doubly so when they are your own. Jobs was an asshole because he was an asshole, not because he was driven.
> Once, she says, as Jobs groped his wife and pretended to be having sex with her, he demanded that Brennan-Jobs stay in the room, calling it a "family moment." He repeatedly withheld money from her, told her that she would get "nothing" from his wealth — and even refused to install heat in her bedroom.
This isn't just a career driven person
Happy to be disagreed with, it's just my experience of the world.
Ironic that he blamed his biological father for abandoning him, and then tried really, really hard to do the same to his daughter.
She wasn't a product of "trying to have kids". It just happened, and he denied she was his daughter for years.
The worshipping is completely out of line.
I'm a praiser of good parents and good people and Steve was definitively neither, it would seem.
It's a common misconception because so many psychopaths become examples of "successful businessmen" but they're not successful PEOPLE. Steve's arrogance literally killed him, his insistence he knew better than everyone made him ignore his cancer until it was too late.
No one should try to be the next Steve Jobs. Be better than he was, better to your family, better to your employees, better to your friends. There's no one Steve didn't try to screw at some point. That's not success.
Details reported today suggest to me he's more than just a billionaire edgelord:
https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/08/tech/elon-musk-xai-digital-un...
> Musk has pushed back against guardrails for Grok [...] Musk has “been unhappy about over-censoring” on Grok “for a long time.” [...] At one meeting in recent weeks before the latest controversy erupted, Musk held a meeting with xAI staffers from various teams where he “was really unhappy” over restrictions on Grok’s Imagine image and video generator
...how are the shareholders not in revolt over this?
Dead Comment
I haven't read much about Tim Cook being anywhere near the level of sycophant, or raising the curtain to show the ugliness behind, as much as some of the others.
Deleted Comment
I'm glad I never worked for Apple while he was there. Though I have unfortunately worked for someone with very similar traits.
Even though he is dead and can no longer improve himself, people will use him as a role model and idolize all the bad stuff too.
Hero worship is always pretty weird. I wish we would do less of it in general. But for Steve Jobs, I feel like negative reports about his character were pretty well known during his life and after his death. I don't feel like I've seen a lot of positive only content about him now that his death isn't so recent (maybe a little bit in the context of people hating on current Apple products), unlike some other celebrities where people seem to forget all of the misconduct (alleged or proven) during their lifetime.
This horse has been beat to death. Every reddit post that has Jobs name in it covers this. Same with John Lennon.
I came to believe that there was a bratty entitled personality from his 20s that gave rise to most the jerk stories people reference, and that he wised up after being ousted (probably for being that jerk). He was essentially exiled for the better part of a decade.
You are literally questioning why we are bothering to try to learn historical facts.
If we bury these stories, and always only talk about it when people are long dead or not at all, we as communities will not evolve out of those patterns. A culture that "honors the dead" by not talking about the bad stuff they've done is catering to its abusers.
Today, we should talk about Trump, Musk, etc, also in the light of how they treat their children. And what we can and should do to protect those that cannot protect themselves.
We all have responsibility - the ability to respond. If we look away from the stories, we will also look away when something happens near us. And it should encourage us to grow in how we treat other people (especially children) around us. Yes, this can bring up difficult feelings about our own acts, and our own childhood experiences. And it should.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyril_of_Alexandria
He is a canonized saint of Catholicism and revered as a virtuous defender of Christianity. More evidence based history instead indicates he was a narcissist primarily motivated to elevate himself politically in Alexandria which included wide spread murder and the destruction of the greatest intellectual institution the world had ever seen.
I’m not sure why it is being reposted in 2026, though.
If the truth destroys your culture, it says more about your culture than it does about the people destroying it.