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Tech's Enduring Great-Man Myth

Posted by Soulskill on from the on-the-backs-of-great-engineers dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Did Steve Jobs deserve his reputation as a brilliant inventor? Since Jobs's death in 2011, Elon Musk has been thrust into the spotlight as a man who can shake the pillars of tech. Does he deserve that reputation? MIT's Technology Review argues that media and the industry have a habit of making legends out of notable leaders, while failing to acknowledge all the support that allowed them to execute their ideas. From the article: "Musk's success would not have been possible without, among other things, government funding for basic research and subsidies for electric cars and solar panels. Above all, he has benefited from a long series of innovations in batteries, solar cells, and space travel." While it may be fun to compare him to Iron Man, the myth has its perils: "The problem with such portrayals is not merely that they are inaccurate and unfair to the many contributors to new technologies. By warping the popular understanding of how technologies develop, great-man myths threaten to undermine the structure that is actually necessary for future innovations."

5 of 273 comments (clear)

  1. Hero worship comes in all sizes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Pick any subject, there will be the famous in that field the masses of the same bent idolise (or hate). Some are deserved, others are mostly salesmen. Tech, sports, soap operas, movies, music, even no-mark celebrities will have millions following their public profile, creating emotional attachments that don't actually exist. This is what fills the void left by abandoning religion.

    1. Re:Hero worship comes in all sizes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      It works both ways, love him or hate him but Obama (the presidency) is a fantastic example. Obama this Obama that; people fail to realize that not unlike Jobs or Musk hes just the guy at the end of the table and its a dramatically wrong and ultimately poisonous perception.

    2. Re:Hero worship comes in all sizes by Javagator · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Here is my impression. Jobs was not a great innovator. What made him successful was his ability to recognize and surround himself with people who had talent. People like Andy Hertzfield and Steve Wozniak. Most managers like to surround themselves with people that look and act "professional".

  2. Nobel Prize anyone? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    A bunch of kids are playing together by building a tower out of legos. One of them places a final brick to complete the tower. The parents & teachers rush over and congratulate the one kid for placing that final brick and shower her with candy & praise. The rest of the kids are asked by their parents, "why couldn't they try harder and be like that kid?"

  3. Re:Subsidies and innovation helps, but... by haruchai · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I don't think "lucky" really applies to Musk, at least not now or not anymore.
    He claims to have been thinking about space travel & personal transportation since his college days but let's say that's bullshit and that his early startup successes were lucky.
    But no-one lucks into founding a company that builds rockets from scratch and becoming the head of a struggling electric car company at the same time.
    He could easily have taken all the cash he had and gone off to live a life of ease, well, as much ease as you can have raising 5 or 6 kids.
    Instead, he chose to tackle not one but two disruptive businesses that are cash & resource intensive instead of sitting at home and coding up some cool apps - he's been writing software since adolescence and is one of the ways he paid his way through college.

    --
    Pain is merely failure leaving the body