RAPID RESPONSES
Innovation first
Norman Lewis makes some good points [Steve Jobs was an amazing businessman – but Einstein’s the genius behind the iPod, yesterday] but while pure science is clearly important, many innovations precede the science. We flew long before we knew how, we used electricity long before we understood what it was and we continue to use general anaesthetics even though we have no idea how they work. Indeed, all our early innovations – fire, metals, boats, farming – were accomplished without the concept, let alone the practice, of science. What is more interesting is how the last fifty years have shown no radical innovation. The last was the jet engine, over 70 years ago. Why we have failed to cure cancer or the common cold or construct a working fusion reactor is the question we should ask.
Tim Hammond, managing director, Seabury Group
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Give Jobs his due
Comparing Steve Jobs with great physicists might be going a little far but what he achieved is extraordinary. The music business has changed forever. A whole business sector has been born on the back of the app store. Apple has made technology accessible to consumers in a modern day revolution. Just ask the 300m owners of an iPod!
Julian Ormerod, managing director, Blast Radius