Were the Computer Geniuses Self-Actualized?

Contrast William Gates and Steve Jobs. The "basic" culture was unable to understand them. But they created magnificent tools that embraced and brought the future to everyone.

Were they self-actualized? No. They were like Lincoln. They had their moments.

Those early, revolutionary days of computers passed, and Gates retreated from a transcended state to remain as he is now, just another one of the generally famous "rich people." I realize how poorly you may regard the phrase, "just another one" as it applies to Gates, particularly if you share "basic" American values, but please hear me out.

Bill was inspired, once. The inspiration catapulted him to greatness and made him a celebrity. Then he became another Henry Ford, another business mogul. On Bill's behalf, he's got a lot going for him, what with his charities and his attempts to advance mankind. He seems to be expressing needs for "higher" things, but even they make him look and drive more like a Ford than a transcendentalist, at least for now. Maybe a greater Gates legacy will blossom someday.

Jobs was obviously different. At first glance, one might suppose him to be truly self-actualized. He kept innovating and thinking ahead constantly, at times appearing to be inventing standards for himself that others could not comprehend. He occasionally seemed to behave a little like Henry Ford as well, but he never could quite rejoin and "fit in" with the establishment.

Although he spent lots of time with the "rich people" crowd, Jobs kept finding his way back to the extraordinary person he was and doing the things he was good at. Again and again, he demonstrated an awareness that went beyond insight and rose to the level of visionary. He developed solutions to problems people didn't even have yet, but soon would have. One might say he invented both the problems and the solutions.

But Jobs wavered. He seemed lucidly transcendent about half the time and in pursuit of wealth ("basic" American success) the other half. He was an exceptional mogul. If any "cash-first" guy could have risen above "cash-first," he might have. He just didn't. He enjoyed many moments of transcendental thinking. All of us can perceive this fact. The difference between Jobs and Gates wasn't how much money they made, or even the sort of products they dreamed up, really. It was their motivation. Jobs was perhaps nearer to real self-actualization.

In the end, however, neither one of them actually rose far above Maslow's (and America's) "basic" level.