Steve Jobs Biography Reveals Apple CEO Struggled With Beliefs About God, Meaning of Life
Biographer Walter Isaacson revealed on Sunday in an interview with CBS' "60 Minutes" that late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, who died earlier this month after a long battle with pancreatic cancer, struggled with religion and his beliefs about God in the time leading up to his death.
According to Isaacson, Jobs, a self-proclaimed Buddhist, began questioning the meaning of life and God in the past few months before his death.
"I remember sitting in his backyard in his garden one day and he started talking about God," recalled Isaacson. "He said, 'Sometimes I believe in God, sometimes I don't. I think it's 50-50 maybe. But ever since I've had cancer, I've been thinking about it more. And I find myself believing a bit more. I kind of – maybe it's cause I want to believe in an afterlife. That when you die, it doesn't just all disappear. The wisdom you've accumulated. Somehow it lives on.'"
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Isaacson continued, "Then he paused for a second and he said, 'Yeah, but sometimes I think it's just like an on-off switch. Click and you're gone.' He paused again, and he said, 'And that's why I don't like putting on-off switches on Apple devices.'"
Jobs also brought up death during his discussions with Isaacson and questioned the meaning of his own existence.
"I saw my life as an arc," Jobs said in a recording aired on the show. "And that it would end and compared to that nothing mattered. You're born alone, you're gonna die alone. And does anything else really matter? I mean what is it exactly, is it that you have to lose Steve? You know? There's nothing."
Jobs passed away Oct. 5 at the age of 56. During his lifetime, Jobs revolutionized the digital world with products such as the iPod, iPhone, iPad, and the online iTunes store. He successfully marketed the first personalized computer and turned Pixar into a billion dollar conglomerate that produced box-office hits such as "Finding Nemo," "Toy Story" and "Monsters Inc."
Isaacson's biography on Jobs, titled Steve Jobs, hit stores today. CBS published the "60 Minutes" segment on its YouTube channel.
