If he hadn't tried to self-treat his cancer with acupuncture, fruit juice and herbs, he'd probably be around now to do that. The man was clearly a lucky idiot, and shouldn't be revered, but used as a cautionary tale of unbridled arrogance.

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vasco 2 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

People get sick and they die. Nobody should have to go through any treatments they dont want to. And to blame someone for that is like blaming them for the disease.

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rkomorn 9 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I'd consider myself a Steve Jobs hater (and I think his treatment choices were bad) but the five-year survival rate for pancreatic cancer is in the 10-15% range.

"Probably", he'd not be around today. Even with his money, it'd be improbable.

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mikeyouse 6 hours ago | parent [-]

He had a much more treatable and slowly growing variety of pancreatic cancer - it was a neuroendocrine cancer in his pancreas (an islet cell tumor). The 5-yr survival rate for stage 1/2 is something like 95%, and even stage 4 is still around a 25%. The more common and deadly pancreatic cancer you’re thinking of has a 5yr survival rate of under 15% and under 3% if it’s advanced to stage 4.

If he had received real care immediately after diagnosis, he’d almost certainly be alive and cancer free today.

	▲	rkomorn an hour ago \| parent [-]
		I stand corrected! Not moving goalposts, but on another note: He refused regular treatment for 9 months, for an allegedly slow-growing type of cancer? That still doesn't sound that crazy, especially given he lived another 8 years.

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johncolanduoni 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

He should perhaps be a cautionary tale against thinking that being really good at building consumer tech products makes you good at everything. But if this is your standard for "lucky idiot", I wonder who of note you wouldn't consider a lucky idiot. You can dig up something like this for everyone from Newton to Salk.

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gota 5 hours ago | parent [-]

My go-to example for this is Turing. The genius of our field, and apparently duped into credulity about telepathy (probably based on faulty/fraudulent results by people at then-respected institutions)

	▲	snowwrestler 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		To be fair, tons of scientists and technical people believed at that time that telepathy might be real. For example if you go back and read science fiction from the 40s, 50s, even 60s, there is a ton of telepathy and mental powers. This reflects both the authors’ efforts to predict future scientific advancement, and their audience’s willingness to believe it.

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steve-atx-7600 9 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

A person should be judged by a stupid decision they made? I hope you never did anything that wasn't rational.

	▲	rootusrootus 6 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Especially when it comes to life threatening illnesses like cancer. I've seen more than one entirely normal, rational person start grasping at off the wall solutions when faced with the imminent end of their life.
	▲	stickfigure 6 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Stupid decisions that result in fatalities deserve extra judgement.

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usui 9 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Maybe watch this lecture by a medical professional https://youtu.be/81xnvgOlHaY before repeating a commonly-believed myth.

	▲	pgalvin 5 hours ago \| parent [-]
		That lecture is by a doctor who had widely discredited views on cancer, often cited as an example of quack, pseudoscientific claims on the topic. His claims, specifically on cancer, were widely and roundly rejected by the scientific and medical community. This is not a controversial statement, either - his supporters proudly proclaim that his views are rejected by the vast majority of experts which, in my opinion, pretty much sums it up. I highly recommend people avoid falling into this dangerous rabbit hole.

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nozzlegear 8 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Few people should be revered, but calling him a lucky idiot is just blatant revisionism.