Home
/
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
/
How God makes a smartphone
How God makes a smartphone
Jun 20, 2026 6:00 AM

“Everybody has a cell phone,” Steve Jobs told John Lasseter, chief creative officer at Pixar, “but I don’t know one person who likes their cell phone.”

The frustrated CEO of Apple decided to do something about the problem, which lead to one of the greatest products of the modern age. Ten years ago today he released the first version of the famed iPhone.

Jobs didn’t invent the smartphone. And while he was the guiding force behind the iPhone, he really didn’t invent that product either. Jobs also couldn’t produce a smartphone himself. No one can.

This video by the Institute for Faith, Work, and Economics, based on the essay “I, Pencil” penned by Leonard Read in 1958, explains how a smartphone is made. And why should you care? Because as IFWE explains, God has given us the market process as the most powerful tool we have in a fallen world to serve each other by using our gifts.

See also: How God Makes a Pencil

Previous Article：Families with stay-at-home moms pay 5-times more taxes in this nation Next Article：Joe Carter: Justice Gorsuch a ‘champion of religious freedom’
Comments
Welcome to mreligion comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
The Kirchnerian Economy
Sam Gregg writesof Argentina,whence the new Pope Francis hails, “Over and over again, Argentina has been brought to its knees by the populist politics of Peronism, which dominates Argentina’s Right and Left. ‘Kirchnerism,’ as peddled by Argentina’s present and immediate past president, is simply the latest version of that.”For a bit of the current economic context in Argentina, here’s the latest on Kirchnerian political economy as related by John Teevan: That’s the Argentine Way: In order to prevent the outflow...
Will Pope Francis Go Left on Economics?
Will Pope Francis promote a leftist view of economics? Hot Air’s Ed Morrissey asked that question of Kishore Jayalaban, Director of Acton’s Rome office. Jayalaban says the impression that Francis will push economic arguments to the left is a misunderstanding of both Catholic economic thought and the economic situation in Argentina—where capitalism is much more rife with cronyism and corporatism than in the US. Read more about this story . ...
Samuel Gregg: Is Pope Francis a Man of the Left?
Pope Francis At National Review Online, Acton Research Director Samuel Gregg talks about the “profound illustration of the limits of applying secular political categories to something like the Catholic Church.” He goes on to discuss the “particular concerns” that Pope Francis has regarding economic issues, including materialism and consumerism, and the poor, all reflected through his life of asceticism. Gregg then places these reflections in the context of modern day Argentina. More: Over the centuries … Catholics have actually disagreed...
Audio: Rev. Robert A. Sirico Discusses Pope Francis with Hugh Hewitt
Acton Institute President Rev. Robert A. Sirico has been in Rome all week for the Papal Conclave, and joined host Hugh Hewitt on The Hugh Hewitt Show yesterday afternoon to discuss the new pontificate of Pope Francis. What kind of a man is Pope Francis? What will his priorities be for his pontificate? What is his view on markets? All these questions and more are explored in the conversation. Listen to the full interview here: ...
Evangelical Luis Palau Discusses Fellow Argentine Native Pope Francis
Evangelical leader Luis Palau discusses his old friend and fellow Argentine native, Pope Francis, in a new interview at Christianity Today. A few excerpts that stood out to me: He’s a very Bible-centered man, a very Jesus Christ-centered man. He’s more spiritual than he is administrative, although he’s going to have to exercise his administrative skills now! But personally, he is more known for his personal love for Christ. He’s really centered on Jesus and the Gospel, the pure Gospel....
Education Inequality is Family ‘Inequality’
Over at the , Sarah Garland wonders how we can move toward ending “racial inequality in gifted education” programs. Garland laments the following: Gifted and talented programs have been the target of criticism ever since the concept took hold in the 1970s as huge demographic changes were transforming urban school districts. White, middle-class families were fleeing to the suburbs. Like magnet schools, accelerated programs for gifted students were attractive to many of these families and provided a way to counteract...
Beyond Aid: The Flood of Rice in Haiti
“We don’t just want the money e to Haiti. Stop sending money. Let’s fix it. Let’s fix it,” declared Republic of Haiti President Michel Martelly three years after the 2010 earthquake. Martelly was referring to foreign aid, $9 billion of which has been pledged to the country since the disaster. But financial aid has of course not been the only item sent to Haiti; the country has experienced a vast influx of goods, including clothing, shoes, food, and in particular,...
Pope Francis: For the Church, the City, and the World
Pope Francis Surprise was the reaction in Rome on hearing of the elevation of Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Archbishop of Buenos Aires, to the Papacy. My colleagues in Rome told me that the Plaza was unusually quiet as the people tried to figure out what was going on. I guess the Cardinals showed that they elect the pope on their own terms, and now everyone is wondering who Pope Francis is, how he will lead, and what will characterize his...
How Bearing Each Other’s Burdens Can Lighten Our Burden of Debt
In this week’s Acton Commentary, “A Passion for Government Leads to Neglect of Our Neighbor,” I examine how the disconnect between desires and deeds with reference to helping the needy among us perpetuates unbalanced budgets and spending on debt to the detriment of future generations. I highlight how St. John the Baptist came to “turn the hearts of fathers to their children” (Luke 1:17) by exhorting people to look to their neighbors and the small but practical ways they can...
Rod Dreher on Community, Calling, and Life with Limits
In his ing book, author and journalist Rod Dreher chronicles his journey back to his hometown of St. Francisville, Louisiana, in “the wake of his younger sister Ruthie’s death.” After spending time in St. Francisville during the final months of his sister’s life, Dreher, who left his hometown as a teenager and bounced around from city to city in the years proceeding, was struck by the support and generosity his sister received from munity. In a column written shortly after...
Related Classification
RELIGION & LIBERTY
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
About
Terms and Conditions Privacy policy Cookie Settings Contact Us
Services
Login register
mreligion RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE RELIGION & LIBERTY
Links
zpostcode Recruit weather mreligion Yellowpages sport constellation shopping name game directory literature Word tour furnish Lottery tftnews lyrics News digital car dir Edu Finance
Copyright 2023-2026 - www.mreligion.com All Rights Reserved