Apple visionary Steve Jobs greatly regretted his decision to delay what could have been life-saving surgery for his pancreatic cancer in favor of alternative therapies, his biographer tells "60 Minutes."
In an interview to air in its entirety Sunday, biographer Walter Isaacson says Jobs delayed the surgery because he didn't want to undergo such an invasive procedure. He eventually did get the operation, but only after nine months of his wife and others urging him to do so. He later wished he had done it sooner.
"I've asked [Jobs why he didn't get an operation then] and he said, 'I didn't want my body to be opened… I didn't want to be violated in that way,'" Isaacson said.
Asked by interviewer Steve Kroft why such an intelligent man would make such a seemingly stupid decision, Isaacson said, "I think that he kind of felt that if you ignore something, if you don't want something to exist, you can have magical thinking…we talked about this a lot. … He wanted to talk about it, how he regretted it….I think he felt he should have been operated on sooner."
Isaacson also said that Jobs believed there was about a 50/50 chance that God exists, but considered the question more after his diagnosis. He was also disgusted by conspicuous consumption, and said some Apple employees turned into "bizarro people" when Apple stock made them rich. He vowed not to let wealth change him, Isaacson said.
The interview airs Sunday at 7 p.m. Here's an excerpt:
