Such lively conversation today. Such interesting ideas. Such a joy and privilege to be with these students!
Prompted by the obituaries and accolades given to Steve Jobs earlier this fall, we began with two parallel, nearly identical, sentences:
Henry Ford changed America.
Steve Jobs changed America.
Following Stanley Fish's encouragement, we built on the three "words" to help us think about what was changed (e.g. American values, American experiences of work, American's perception of physical distance and time, etc.) and by what means (e.g. by the moving assembly line, by access to affordable automobiles, by 24 hour access to instant, international communication). We noted similarities of biography and in the men's self-portrayal and in some of their flaws. There was lots more that we did not get to, including the simple connection between the automobile and superhighways being alluded to by the connection between computers and other devices and the digital superhighway.
In the heat of the conversation I did not read aloud this sentence from Johnson about Ford. Seems like the sentence would apply equally as well to Jobs as to Ford.
"He illustrated the power, which all historians learn to recognize, of a good but simple idea pursued singlemindedly by a man of implacable will." p. 606
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