Indians Study, Work Hard, Get MBA And Will Have Mercedes, But Where’s Creativity, Asks Apple Co-Founder Steve Wozniak

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, also nicknamed "The Woz", on a visit to India has shaken the minds of aspiring Indians with some tough questions.

“The culture here is one of success based upon academic excellence, studying, learning, practising and having a good job and a great life. For upper India, not the lower. I see two Indias. That’s a lot like Singapore study, study, work hard and you get an MBA, you will have a Mercedes but where is the creativity? The creativity gets left out when your behaviour is too predictable and structured, everyone is similar. Look at a small country like New Zealand, the writers, singers, athletes, it’s a whole different world,” he told Times of India in an interview.

Asked what his views on India are and whether he thinks a global tech company can emerge from here, he said, “I am not an anthropologist and I don’t know the culture of India well enough. I don’t see those big advances in tech companies. What is the biggest tech company here, Infosys maybe? I just don’t see that sort of thing coming out of Infosys and I have done keynotes for them three times.”

Reminiscing about his inventing days, he said, “When I was inventing, I was so good. Every project was A+, magic was pouring out of my brain but I kept at it 20 hours a day, sleeping and waking up in the middle of the night with solutions. I had so much in the brain, you could feel the stress.”

He said technology is not how we change our lives but it’s how we can make things simpler.

“All the apps that are being created for mobile products help us but we are getting to a point where there will be a plateau. Then things will change drastically and improve. Imagine, in future, every car in the world can be electric, no gas cars anymore. What an amazing step that is. How could that happen? A lot of people believed it couldn’t happen, they said the same things about personal computers,” he said.