Steve Jobs, Apple, and the Future of Organs?

Perhaps you have heard the report, which surfaced last week, that Apple CEO Steve Jobs recently had a liver transplant in Tennessee (if you didn’t hear about it, you can read about it at TechCrunch here).  Rather big operation I imagine, not something that I would want to do.

Honestly I really didn’t care much one way or another until I got to thinking and wondering if maybe Jobs had some of his folks work on designing a way better liver than those ones that come from organ donors who no longer have need for their livers.  As such I propose the following:

Look at that, a fun scrolly wheel and a USB and Firewire port . . . sweet liver dude!

That’s right . . . perhaps Mr. Jobs is now a bit more cyborg than the rest of us, as he may very well be fitted with the first generation of that iLiver in Apple’s forthcoming iOrgan line of products.

Now, as you can see from the above image this is still a relatively crude device, probably with relatively little internal memory, and not a whole lot of menu options.  I imagine that it serves the basic liver function of filtration of unwanted junk in the body (including SPAM build up . . . both kinds).  As you can see it includes both a USB and a Firewire port for easy media uploading.  I have been unable to yet determine whether it has a wireless function or can be used as a cellular phone (though if the phone thing is available I suggest that it probably requires a two-year service plan with AT&T).  In truth I’ll be curious to see what future versions of the iLiver include.  Maybe a pair of iKidneys (they’d kind of go along with the iPod earnubs right?).

I imagine that Apple will find a pretty good market for it’s line of iOrgans.  Furthermore I would guess that PC makers are not far behind in developing their own future electronic organs (though knowing Apple’s tendancy to dominate the markets in innovation in these kind of things I’m not sure the competition will really exist).  Eventually we might all be walking around retrofitted with iOrgans.  In fact I imagine it might only be a few years until Mr. Jobs looks something like this himself:

Gives a whole new meaning to iRobot right?

Yep, the future is going to be one hell of a wacky place . . . all white and sterile and Apple dominated.  Makes a man shudder, truly does.

Bonus:

To go along with the my previous post of workplaces sketches, here is where the origins of iLiver got hashed out.

Like I said in the previous post, I think about weird things when I'm at work. Can't help it really

~ by Nathaniel on June 22, 2009.