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The question

When did you last change your mind about something important?

Originally asked

Vox, to writers and thinkers, 9 Questions, 2017

The exact question was part of every retrieved Vox 9 Questions installment.

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

Steve Jobs

Co-founder and chief executive of Apple; co-founder of NeXT; chief executive of Pixar

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here
I used to think that technology could help education. I've probably spearheaded giving away more computer equipment to schools than anybody else on the planet. But I've had to come to the inevitable conclusion that the problem is not one that technology can hope to solve. What's wrong with education cannot be fixed with technology. No amount of technology will make a dent. It's a political problem.

Gary Wolf, Wired 4.02, February 1996 source ↗

Others on this question

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I always thought I would be a terrible driver because I’m sort of a wafty person, but it turns out I am very good at staying in between the lines. I passed my test last year.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 23 March 2024 source ↗
I woke up this morning thinking maybe I don’t want to be an actor any more, then I had breakfast and I thought: actually, no, I really like being an actor.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 6 September 2025 source ↗

More from Steve Jobs

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Question What is an unusual habit or small pleasure you are oddly fond of? Daily life
We spent some time in our family talking about what's the trade-off we want to make. We ended up talking a lot about design, but also about the values of our family. Did we care most about getting our wash done in an hour versus an hour and a half? Or did we care most about our clothes feeling really soft and lasting longer? Did we care about using a quarter of the water? We spent about two weeks talking about this every night at the dinner table.
Recorded Gary Wolf, Wired 4.02, February 1996 source ↗
Question Who makes your work possible behind the scenes? Craft & work
You're missing it. This is not a one-man show. What's reinvigorating this company is two things: One, there's a lot of really talented people in this company who listened to the world tell them they were losers for a couple of years, and some of them were on the verge of starting to believe it themselves. But they're not losers. What they didn't have was a good set of coaches, a good plan.
Recorded Andy Reinhardt, Business Week Q&A in the Apple boardroom, extended online-only version, 25 May 1998 source ↗
Question What part of your job would surprise outsiders because it takes up so much of your time? Craft & work
My job is to not be easy on people. My job is to make them better. My job is to pull things together from different parts of the company and clear the ways and get the resources for the key projects. And to take these great people we have and to push them and make them even better, coming up with more aggressive visions of how it could be.
Recorded Betsy Morris, Fortune interview, Kona, Hawaii, March 2008 source ↗
Question Does the thought of dying frighten you? Death & what remains
I've always felt that death is the greatest invention of life. I'm sure that life evolved without death at first and found that without death, life didn't work very well because it didn't make room for the young. It didn't know how the world was fifty years ago. It didn't know how the world was twenty years ago. It saw it as it is today, without any preconceptions, and dreamed how it could be based on that. We're not satisfied based on the accomplishment of the last thirty years. We're dissatisfied because the current state didn't live up to their ideals. Without death there would be very little progress.
Recorded Daniel Morrow, Smithsonian Institution Oral and Video Histories, for the Computerworld Smithsonian Awards Program, 20 April 1995 source ↗
Question How does a new piece of work usually begin for you? Craft & work
Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn't really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That's because they were able to connect experiences they've had and synthesize new things. And the reason they were able to do that was that they've had more experiences or they have thought more about their experiences than other people.
Recorded Gary Wolf, Wired 4.02, February 1996 source ↗

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