Church of Apple Concept Store Begins Testing

[thestoat]

If you've been a longtime faithful Apple follower your vision of the company's retail store is about to be reborn. Following a one day shut down in mid January, a handful of older Apple stores will officially reopen as The Church of Apple, according to a detailed Scoopertino news report.

“It’s a natural evolution,” explains CEO Tim Cook. “We’ve given our customers a place to shop. What they really want is a place to worship.”

The new concept stores which feature an epic stained glass of Steve Jobs at the entrance, are certain to cause those who religiously use Apple's products to think totally different. The initial test location in North Carolina has proved to be a bigger success than the company first imagined.

One of the more clever services included in the concept store is the addition of a Miracle Bar, where Apple Angels (formerly Geniuses) offer customers personal care — through end-of-life counseling — designed to help followers let go of aging Apple products that are ready to pass on. Angels have undergone extensive sensitivity training in order to assist customers with new purchases to aide in their grieving process.

Cupertino-trained clergy will be on hand to perform daily worship services and will be encouraged to scroll along with the sermon on iPads featuring Apple’s newest app, The iBook of Jobs.

http://bit.ly/xIU9ff

[thestoat]

I saw a TV program last year about Apple fanboys where they demonstrated that the fervour some get with Apple products is very much akin to the fervour some get with religion - they demonstrated that the same part of the brain got excited.

[Timster]

so basically they just shut off their brain for a moment ...

[loCAtek]

There was a segment on BBC just yesterday, that demonstrated meditation calmed the brain, not excited it.

'Fraid I can't embed the video but please watch, it's only three minutes.

Scans 'show mindfulness meditation brain boost'
The theory that meditation can reduce stress, depression and even chronic pain is one that has been gaining in momentum in recent years.

So the BBC's David Sillito has been learning the art of mindfulness meditation in order to find out for himself.

After getting to grips with the activity, he joined some other devotees for an MRI scan to find out what impact the practice can have on brain activity.

Excitement about religion isn't the same as prayer or worship.

[thestoat]

Excitement about religion isn't the same as prayer

Very true, lo (not sure about worship though - think you are wrong there). Of course, the thread talks of religion and not prayer, so not really relevant.

[Lord Jim]

they demonstrated that the same part of the brain got excited.

All that seems to demonstrate to me is that when people get excited about something, the same part of the brain gets stimulated.

I suspect you'd have gotten similar results if you compared the "fervour" of the Apple folks to devoted surfing officiandos or chess fanatics talking about their passions....

[dales]

Anyone recall the brain scans of a woman during orgasm?

[loCAtek]

Excitement about religion isn't the same as prayer

Very true, lo (not sure about worship though - think you are wrong there). Of course, the thread talks of religion and not prayer, so not really relevant.

Well, Church attendance being the social aspect of religion, can be exciting, but it has to contain some form of worship like prayer, or else it's not religion, but dogma.

[thestoat]

they demonstrated that the same part of the brain got excited.

All that seems to demonstrate to me is that when people get excited about something, the same part of the brain gets stimulated.

I suspect you'd have gotten similar results if you compared the "fervour" of the Apple folks to devoted surfing officiandos or chess fanatics talking about their passions....

I don't think so, LJ. Sorry to be vague (it was a while ago) but the report (Dispatches, a UK thing) distinctly said that the fan boys experienced a different brain "surge" to that experienced by mere excitement, and it was likened to religious fervour.

[loCAtek]

I should visit one, there appears to be one in Cupertino, Home of Apple;



..but the iBook of Jobs is obviously a promotional stunt. It seems to be based on the Cult of Personality of Steve Jobs.

[loCAtek]

Regardless, that wasn't what Steve Jobs would have wanted;

Most surprising, Steve’s emails show that he’s developed a “holy father/son” relationship with Pope Benedict XVI — a bond that formed when Steve sweet-talked the pontiff into appearing in the Pope Rock iPod commercial earlier this year. “Benny,” as Steve often addresses him, has been trying to get Apple to sponsor his next world tour. Steve emailed back that he’s happy to consider, “if you can just tone down the religion thing a little.”

Scoopertino

[dales]

Thread digression alert!

My B-I-L has been working at Apple since 1979 and the veneration of Jobs is nothing but bullsh-t!

Carry on.........>

[rubato]

Beatification can't be far behind; millions have already said praying to him blocks viruses and prevents worms.

Steve Jobs, he's the hip new savior that solves today's problems today.


yrs,
rubato

[Joe Guy]

I've always like Apple's products but I never thought much about Steve Jobs other than that he did a good job turning the company around when it was on the brink of fading away.

He's certainly no hero of mine. People who call Jobs a genius and adore him are a bit over the top, in my opinion.

I don't understand why so many people tend to idolize successful people.

[loCAtek]

[thestoat]

I don't understand why so many people tend to idolize successful people.

Now there's a thread all in itself ...

[BoSoxGal]

Steve Jobs had a very treatable form of pancreatic cancer (the same kind Ruth Ginsberg had) and he refused the treatment that very likely would have allowed him to live many more years of a healthy productive life.

Clearly, a martyr. Thus, divine?

[loCAtek]

He didn't take the treatment because of a hormone imbalance. Maybe he'll get 72 virgins? but I don't think that makes him a saint.

[rubato]

Steve Jobs had a very treatable form of pancreatic cancer (the same kind Ruth Ginsberg had) and he refused the treatment that very likely would have allowed him to live many more years of a healthy productive life.

Clearly, a martyr. Thus, divine?

He made a bad decision and delayed more effective treatment in favor of bullshit holistic herbal crap. But it is unknown whether the course of the disease would have been much different. He bought quite a few more good years in any case.

yrs,
rubato

[BoSoxGal]

Steve Jobs had a very treatable form of pancreatic cancer (the same kind Ruth Ginsberg had) and he refused the treatment that very likely would have allowed him to live many more years of a healthy productive life.

Clearly, a martyr. Thus, divine?

He made a bad decision and delayed more effective treatment in favor of bullshit holistic herbal crap. But it is unknown whether the course of the disease would have been much different. He bought quite a few more good years in any case.

yrs,
rubato

I meant my post to be a bit tongue-in-cheek; but now you mention it, that is not at all my understanding of the course of Jobs' cancer. He was very ill and ultimately had to undergo organ transplant in the few years following his diagnosis and refusal of the standard protocol of treatment. It's been clearly stated by cancer specialists that his choice very likely led to an unnecessarily early death, and Jobs admits regret for that choice in the final months of his life. So I would refute that 7 years of unnecesary major illness and medical treatment meets the definition 'quite a few more good years'. Yes, it's unknown how his cancer would have progressed following standard treatment, but statistically he had a very good chance of living a healthy life many years longer than he did suffering from cancer.

Justice Ginsberg has twice beaten cancer (colon in 1999, pancreatic in 2009) and is an excellent example of the benefits of following standard medical treatment and believing in the oncologists. She's never missed a day on the bench despite the treatment.

Jobs was a victim, sadly, of his own ego.