What does the contemporary self want? The camera has created a culture of celebrity; the computer is creating a culture of connectivity. As the two technologies converge–broadband tipping the Web from text to image, social-networking sites spreading the mesh of interconnection ever wider–the two cultures betray a common impulse. Celebrity and connectivity are both ways of becoming known. This is what the contemporary self wants. It wants to be recognized, wants to be connected: It wants to be visible. If not to the millions, on “Survivor” or “Oprah,” then to the hundreds, on Twitter or Facebook. This is the quality that validates us, this is how we become real to ourselves–by being seen by others.

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That was one kooky memo Apple (AAPL) CEO Steve Jobs sent out Monday. And it is hard to imagine anyone but him getting away with it. But when you are both a genius and a cancer survivor, many people are willing to cut you slack. Especially if you have created $80 billion or so of shareholder value. Overlooked in the whole brouhaha over Jobs’s health, however, is its most crucial fact: Steve Jobs just doesn’t really matter anymore.

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