Great products, according to Mr. Jobs, are triumphs of “taste.” And taste, he explains, is a byproduct of study, observation and being steeped in the culture of the past and present, of “trying to expose yourself to the best things humans have done and then bring those things into what you are doing.”

His is not a product-design philosophy steered by committee or determined by market research. The Jobs formula, say colleagues, relies heavily on tenacity, patience, belief and instinct. He gets deeply involved in hardware and software design choices, which await his personal nod or veto.

I am filing this post in the “INDIVIDUAL INTELLIGENCE – ANTI CONSENSUS” category (opposing the “COLLECTIVE INTELLIGENCE – WISDOM OF CROWDS” category) —following a remark I made privately to David Pennock, Mike Giberson and Mike Linksvayer.