I must confess from the outset that I have not read Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs, though I intend to at some point. I have read and heard and seen enough of Steve Jobs himself, however, that I think I can say he is one of the few people who almost embodies a philosophical ideal of greatness; not necessarily the right ideal, but an ideal nonetheless. His whole life represented a sort of philosophical consistency centered around business and entrepreneurship, down his views on death, and leaving a line-up of products and ideas for Apple to develop in the coming decade. In this sense, Jobs is in a very tiny group of individuals who not only developed a worldview, but also succeeded in passing it on to others by living it out. Hence - from a very particular point of view - Jobs might belong in a pantheon of names like Socrates, Ghandi, or Augustus Caesar as a representative for a whole mode of living.

But how worthy of emulation is his worldview? Jason Kottke is joining a growing number of entrepreneurs who are taking a step back and re-examining the notions of success that Jobs so wonderfully marketed. In his reflective article, Kottke suggests that perhaps Jobs is actually a model of what not to do; perhaps Jobs asks us to sacrifice too much in the pursuit of "success." As such, Kottke is at least re-assessing his cross before he decides to take it up and follow Jobs. And in that line of thought, it's worth remembering that Christ isn't the only one who asks sacrifices of his followers, and serving two masters isn't really an option.