Why are we so selective when it comes to remembering the people who matter, wonders an old-timer?
BC: Hi, why the ‘Sad Sack' impersonation?
AD: Just reading a whole lot of touching tributes to Steve Jobs. It's almost a month since he passed away, and the messages are still pouring in.
BC: That's the impact the man has had on billions of lives. Incidentally, the world lost another genius exactly a week later.
AD: Who?
BC: Dennis Ritchie.
AD: Who was he?
BC: Isn't it ironical that we know Steve Jobs so well, but have hardly heard of Dennis Ritchie?
AD: It's not. Steve Jobs designed devices that are so popular — from iMacs to iPods, iPads and iPhones.
BC: Dennis Ritchie was the father of C, the programming language, and he co-created the Unix operating system.
AD: So?
BC: Your browsers, servers and almost everything on the web, owe their origin to C or one of its derivatives. And most of the operating systems in existence today, including Apple's OS for all its devices, are Unix-based.
AD: Really?
BC: Yes! So you see, if Steve Jobs was the guru of gizmos, Dennis Ritchie was considered the ‘man who shaped the digital era'.
AD: Interesting, but I'm surprised that you know about him.
BC: I read a brilliant piece about him on the web a fortnight ago... that was when I realised his contribution to our present world.
AD: The iPod and the Mac are so much a part of our lives, not quite the case with C.
BC: Is the ice cream scoop a part of your life?
AD: Guess so.
BC: Who invented it?
AD: I don't remember.
BC: In other words, you don't know. You wouldn't happen to know who invented the bottle opener or the dishwasher or the…
AD: Listen, spare me, I'm not into quizzing.
BC: If Steve Jobs is popular because he developed so many devices that we use on an everyday basis.
AD: But Steve Jobs gave us the latest in technology — the rest of your examples are mundane kitchen items.
BC: Technology? Let's see... there have been so many versions of Apple computers over the decades. In less than five years, we have seen five generations of the iPhone. But do you know that the ice cream scoop has remained untouched by technology? It's remained unchanged for over 110 years now.
AD: Really?
BC: Yes! So why should the ‘lowly' ice cream scoop be any lesser than a modern device, especially when it is thumbing its nose at technology?
AD: Unless you're particular about a play on words, I don't see how anyone can compare an iPhone with ice cream.
BC: The human mind is so fickle. On the one hand, we fail to give credit where it's due and, on the other, we simply follow the mob. Today, even someone who hasn't heard of Apple computers is empowered to click a ‘like' button on a eulogy to Steve Jobs.
AD: Look, I can use an iPhone or iPad to find out who Steve Jobs is. But I can eat all the ice cream in the world and it won't lead me to the inventor of the ice cream scoop. Incidentally, who created it?
BC: Alfred L Cralle, an Afro-American inventor.
AD: Never heard of him.
BC: Perhaps he should have called it the i-scoop and advertised that it does not require a power source, maintenance or upgrades. Your generation would have i-dolised him for sure.
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