Apple brainwashing: How we do it | Hacker News Reader

Apple brainwashing: How we do it

fakesteve.net

54 pointsnreece14 comments

The reason Steve's product launches are the best in the world isn't because he's more dynamic than Tony Robbins, more charismatic that pg, or more quicker on his feet than Boris Johnson. Nor is it because he's using NLP. It's because he's used his background as an entheogen enthusiast, an experience junky, and an appreciator of world cultures to create his own private set of rituals. This works basically the same way that organized religion works, but instead of "community magic" it's Steve's "reality distortion field." (Because no one has access to the power these rituals confer.)

The number one thing we're missing in the startup field right now is a good set of rituals that dictate how new businesses are launched. We never evolved this in the West because 250 years ago everyone lived in the same town their entire life, so all their potential customers already knew them. And 100 years ago everyone went to work for these enormous companies.

But today launching your first business, or any new business, is a major part of a person's life, just as big as a wedding or a bar mitzvah. But as a society we haven't yet caught up.

If you look at all the big companies, like Facebook or whatever, a huge number have gotten their start by spamming people, or astroturfing, or doing some other really unethical stuff.

What we need is an open source set of rituals that govern how new entrepreneurs introduce their products and services to the world, and also govern what is an appropriate response from the people being pitched to. The point of the rituals wouldn't be to say what people can and can't do per se, but rather to induce people into a state of mind conducive to acting ethically and transparently.

Anyway that is my take at least.

Isn't it at the end there where you're supposed to name-drop your startup, http://www.swagapalooza.com ? ;)

Ooh, new word: entheogen - noun (plural entheogens)

1. A psychoactive substance used for the purpose of inducing a mystical or spiritual experience.

If you are interested in learning more about them, this is pretty much the best podcast on the Internet:

http://www.gnosticmedia.com/

And many of the talks on Pyschedelic Salon are also very good, especially the one by the Erowid founders which I submitted this morning, called The Role of Drug Geeks in Society, and also the talk by Dr. Andrew Weil.

Also check out some of the talks by Terence McKenna, the man was pretty much a living god:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9c8an2XZ3MU

"... The number one thing we're missing in the startup field right now is a good set of rituals that dictate how new businesses are launched. ..."

I thought there already is a way, release quietly and informally, then listen to the feedback.

Can you give some down-to-earth examples of "a good set of rituals that dictate how new businesses are launched"?

Sure. But most of Apple's customers have never seen a single one of Steve's keynotes.

It's amazing the lengths people go to "explain" why a lot of people really like Apple's products, coming up with all sorts of fantastic reasons, all the while ignoring the most obvious one: Apple's customers like technology that don't come bundled with headaches.

And, you know, as long as Apple's competition continue to explain away Apple's success, their competition will continue to come up short.

I would like to see a similar video based on a Microsoft marketing event. I'd be willing to bet that the word 'feature' is featured.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvsboPUjrGc spot on!

Incredible, indeed! :-)

Edit: it's hypnotizing. I've turned off the music I was listening to and I'm replaying this over and over.

That was incredible, great, amazing .... :) I don't know though I think Steve just loves his products and has a lot of enthusiasm for them. I've seen him before on like CNBC where they want to talk about boring stock stuff, and he was more interested in showing off his products. That's their strength! We can complain about their business practices and their brainwashing, but they do make incredible, amazing, great products, oh sorry I don't know what came over me.

How long was the Apple keynote session? :D

Good question. That 1min 50sec was actually a cut down version of the full keynote, which ran for 2min 12 sec.

Another word Apple likes to overuse: "Breakthrough". You'll find it in most of their product descriptions.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=site%3Awww.apple.co...

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