iSad

I've poked a lot of fun at Steve Jobs and the Cult of Apple here over the past few years, but there's simply no denying his revolutionary genius or the effect that it had on our culture. Not simply certain aspects of our culture but our culture itself.

Jobs was a singular visionary who changed the way we talked, listened, connected with each other, saw the world -- how we as a species lived. He made technology an extension of who we are as human beings and allowed it to evolve in tandem with us -- and occasionally ahead of us, pulling us into the future at a seemingly impossible pace. The inexhaustible assembly line that flowed directly from his imagination often felt like it had the ability to actually speed up time, and the amazing gadgets it produced likewise felt as if they possessed transformative properties that literally altered our reality. And in fact they did. They have.

It would simply be impossible to repay the debt of gratitude that this planet owes him. As someone said on Twitter just a few minutes ago: The man was our generation's Henry Ford.

You'll hear a lot of seemingly hyperbolic eulogizing over the next couple of days -- but in reality there will be nothing hyperbolic about it. All the flowery encomia will be true.

Steve Jobs changed everything.

So long, man. And thank you.