Bicycle for the Mind

What a computer is to me is it's the most remarkable tool that we've ever come up with and it's the equivalent of a bicycle for our minds. Vintage Steve Jobs footage on Apple. Computer History Museum. 1980. youtube

YOUTUBE GfxxRKBgos8 Vintage Steve Jobs footage on Apple. Computer History Museum. 1980. youtube

A group of people highlighting insights from the same footage. page

Jobs mentions a Scientific American article comparing the efficiency of locomotion of different animals. Humans didn't show well, but the article included a man on a bicycle. Steve claims that condor was the most efficient. But in that footage, Steve does not say "bicycle for the mind." He focuses on humans as tool builders.

Think I've found the article. But there's no mention of condors. Bicycle Technology, Scientific American, Volume 228, Issue 3. March 1973. article .

Chart of locomotion of animals. Scientific Amercian, Volume 228, Issue3. March 1973. p.90. MAN ON A BICYCLE ranks first in efficiency among traveling animals and machines in terms of energy consumed in moving a certain distance as a function of body weight. ... With the exception of the black point representing the bicyclist, this graph is based on data originally compiled by Vance A. Tucker of Duke University.

Vance A. Tucker, Energetic cost of locomotion in animals, Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, Volume 34, Issue 4, 1970, Pages 841-846, https://doi.org/10.1016/0010-406X(70)91006-6. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0010406X70910066) doi

Steve Jobs, "Computers are like a bicycle for our minds". Michael Lawrence Films. youtube

YOUTUBE ob_GX50Za6c Steve Jobs, "Computers are like a bicycle for our minds". Michael Lawrence Films. youtube

"I think one of the the things that really separates us from the high primates is that we're tool builders. I read a study that measured the efficiency of locomotion for various species on the planet. The condor used the least energy to move a kilometer and humans came in with a rather unimpressive showing about a third of the way down the list. It was not not too proud of a showing for the crown of creation. So that didn't look so good. But then somebody at Scientific American had the insight to test the efficiency of locomotion for a man on a bicycle. And a man on a bicycle or human on a bicycle blew the Condor away. Completely off the top of the charts. And that's what a computer is to me. What a computer is to me is it's the most remarkable tool that we've ever come up with and it's the equivalent of a bicycle for our minds." — Steve Jobs