Steve Barnes' World of Happiness

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Another eve of WWDC.

It has, over the years, earned its place in my mind as my favourite "holiday," second only to Science Week.

I observed, growing up, that I was fortunate to live within the elbow of an exponential curve upward in the sophistication and prevalence of technology, and there's been little but confirmation ever since. While I'm glad I enjoyed while I could the quieter and more gradual rise of the curve before that upward turn, and knowing technology itself is neutral and that even its most casual users must realize it can be used iniquitously, I believed it would be, overall, a benevolent shift to this much more connected and accessible society in which all children in most of the world now find themselves.

Apple – host of WWDC since the aforementioned elbow – has become one of the world's largest and most valuable companies. At the time, they were among "the little guys," and its marketing could leverage users' enthusiasm for such a team's freedom and rebelliousness, or even more basically, its humanity. Steve Jobs, its founder and ultimate leader to his death, seemed unusually and unwaveringly guided by a "humanity-first" conscientiousness which wouldn't need describing if it didn't seem unusual among corporate leaders.

You'd think a company as large as Apple has become would no longer need a soul or a conscience. That would be a cynical thought, and Apple is unsurprisingly regarded with cynicism by virtue of its current size alone. I agree Apple isn't perfect (as did Steve), and I think an important part of being a fan of anything, to care about it, is to acknowledge its missteps (as did Steve). But, overall, I think Apple has done well at maintaining its soul and conscience, and I think its success under Tim Cook more clearly indicates that than anything else.

That's why WWDC is a holiday to me: while today's relative hurricane of tech announcements, events and advances are so easily tarnished by wonky and confused values, Apple has, by and large, managed to keep WWDC about a few good, "humanity-first" ideas, designed, refined and implemented by inspired people who are still among the world's best at doing so. More of that is what I await in the morning.