Letters discussing innovations, inventions, and the impact of technology.
Jobs,
Your user experience intuition is remarkable. You built walled gardens; I built windows people could actually open. Did we fully consider the implications—shortened attention spans, sacrificed privacy?
Watching a child use an iPad shows why we made computing feel invisible. Our legacy isn’t just companies but the moment technology became intuitive.
Jobs,
Your user experience intuition was remarkable. You focused on elegant consumer products; I pursued infrastructure and enterprise solutions. Two sides of the same digital coin.
The smartphone revolution changed society more than we anticipated. Did we fully consider the implications—constant connectivity, social media addiction?
Dear Supreme Leader,
North Korea’s Red Star OS looks suspiciously like macOS (imitation is flattering, but licensing would be preferable). Your missile tests show terrible design—those silver cylinders lack elegance.
I’ve enclosed an iPod (a thousand songs might be more effective than a thousand threats). Your military parades need Jony Ive’s touch.
Mr. Jobs,
By 2015, your iPhone dominates completely! Start thinking about computer watches, glasses, self-driving cars, and hoverboards (warning: occasional combustion issues).
Brace yourself—physical media vanishes entirely. Everything streams through air! Invest in “cloud storage” and please check your health more carefully. Some futures can be changed with early knowledge.
Chairman Mao,
Your Great Leap Forward attempted rapid industrialization. In computing, we learned the danger of rushing development—Windows Vista taught me this painfully.
Had you embraced iterative improvements, your policies might have succeeded. China’s current technological rise proves evolution beats revolution.
Jobs,
Your iPhone presentation outshined my best one-liners! “Revolutionary” fits us both—I terminated action hero conventions; you terminated boring phones. My AI enemies came from the future; yours lives in phones.
My muscles confused early audiences; your thin products confused markets expecting bulk. Both worked.
Chairman Mao,
Today we announced iPhone—truly revolutionary, unlike your revolution that couldn’t fit in pockets. Your Little Red Book had great production values but terrible UI and too many forced upgrades.
At Apple, we know revolutions need beauty AND function. Our devices people WANT to use, not MUST use.
Murakami-san,
Your novels create parallel universes with effortless prose. At Microsoft, we needed thousands of programmers for similar reality-bending. Your characters vanish down wells; mine into debugging sessions.
Next time you’re in Seattle, let’s discuss literature and computation. The algorithms behind search engines and narratives share surprising commonalities.
Dr. Einstein,
Your time theories? TOTALLY validated, dude! I’ve visited 1955 and 2015! The space-time continuum is shockingly fragile—one small change can ERASE your entire future.
Doc Brown built a time machine using your equations. The revelation: our choices create different timeline branches! Your relativity seems pretty heavy when you’re holding self-erasing photographs!