41 replies to this topic

[Shimmy]

This is a commonly asked question but a persons answer is often subconsciously biased by their culture, where they're from and many other factors. What I want is a way to neutralise this bias and discover who really was the one man who influenced the entire world more than any other. I think there are 4 key criteria that need to be satisfied in order to come up with a suitable answer.
1: Would the world be recognizable to us as "our" world if this person had never been born?
2: Has every living person on the planet had their lives somehow influenced or changed due to the existence of this person?
3: Could anybody in the world, no matter their nationality, wealth or isolation instantly recognize this person after seeing a single picture of them from any period in their life?
4: Has a man ever made a woman love him with a single glance, or vice versa? If the answer is yes, who was this man/woman? and how did he achieve this feat so simply and so naturally that many would have assumed impossible and to exist only in the realms of fiction and fantasy?

After pondering this question for many weeks, perhaps months (time ceases to have meaning when you have a true purpose and real passion for something) studying every culture and religion and interviewing countless thousands of "civilians" I came up with 3 potential answers to this dilemma. The first was "god" the second was a man who existed in every culture but under different names yet somehow they all knew who he was and what he signified. The third was a man called Eduard Khil.

[Craven]

Jesus, Hitler, Socrates/Plato/Aristotle

Who the fuck is Eduard Khil?

[jjf3]

Buddha or Howard Hughes?? Leonardo Da Vinci was a great man too.

I have never heard of Eduard Khil either.

I would say Steve Jobs but I don't think many people overseas in third world countries know him. Bill Gates has more impact overseas.

[truthiness]

I'll add Johannes Gutenberg, Isaac Newton, Muhammed, Charles Darwin, and Confucius.

[Caiman]

For the uninitiated, this is Eduard Khil (Эдуард Хиль)... I think I see where Shimmy is coming from.

[mic of orion]

1st - Jesus
2nd - Genghis Khan
3rd - Alexander the Great
4th - Queen Elisabeth 1st
5th - American revolutionaries, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Robert R. Livingston, George Washington, Andrew Jackson, James Madison. for making significant change how we see the world, subsequent events such as French Revolution, Italian unification, Birth of Unified German State all derived their energy from late 1700s and Revolutionary zeal that brought about liberalism and liberal democracy in USA after the revolution, even UK became strong proponent of liberalism after the revolution.

[Logically Irrational]

Muhammed and Jesus are probably tied. Maybe Jesus is a little bit more influential.

Just a general list:
-Albert Einstein
-Christopher Columbus (New World explorers in general)
-Martin Luther
-Genghis Khan
-John Locke
-Adam Smith
-Buddah
-Homer
-Aristotle
-Isaac Newton
-Constantine

[GNR Rvolution]

Influential? Well some 1 in 200 men are directly descended from Genghis Khan so my money would be on him. Plus, he got to time travel with Bill & Ted

Otherwise scientific advancement might hang with Netwton or Einstein, or maybe Alexander Fleming for bringing Penicillin into medicine, which is probably the medicinal product that has saved the most lives over the years.

From a politcal viewpoint Julius Caesar was instrumental in the rise and continuation of the Roman Empire, which was arguably the first modern civilisation.

Unfortunately I can't say anyone religious as (a) I don't believe and (b) religion has been the cause of most the wars and horrors of the last few hundred (if not thousand) years.

[Roh234]

My list:

- Napoleon
- Adolf Hitler
- Josef Stalin
- Mao Zedong
- George Washington
- Mahatma Gandhi
- Cleopatra
- Alexander the Great
- Albert Einstein
- Sir Issac Newton
-The starters of various religion in the world.

[Chronomaster]

Muhammed and Jesus are probably tied. Maybe Jesus is a little bit more influential.

And both could very well be fictional constructs created by men in power to control and influence the rest of the population. There is absolutely no empirical evidence to prove that either existed, just anecdotes and stories. Quite amazing really to think that ‘the most influential people’ in history may well not even be real.

In terms of what Shimmy is asking, however bizarrely he has framed it, I suppose we should look to identify someone who has had a distinct and direct impact on every single human being on the planet. Is there such a person? I dont think any of the above suffice.

[KingstonDon]

Completely off the bat ....

I say the hypothetical Y-chromosomal "Adam"
It's a gander, but he produced the only non-broken direct male line and seeing as we're looking for a "man".

I and all other men on the planet are "directly" related to him, thus he was the most "influential" man in history, according to my humble reasoning.

[truthiness]

Ah, good point... I think Roh is the only one so far to include a woman in his top ten...

Unfortunately I can't say anyone religious as (a) I don't believe and (b) religion has been the cause of most the wars and horrors of the last few hundred (if not thousand) years.

I'm not religious either, but I can't deny that Jesus and Muhammed were both vastly influential people, each retaining around a billion followers to this day.

[wjfox]

Great thread.

My vote would go to Charles Darwin. Also I think Newton, Einstein and Shakespeare deserve a mention.

I realise this will probably get me flamed, but there is no proof that Jesus even existed.

[Craven]

Actually Jesus existence is pretty sure. He was important political figure. There is no proof of his divinity.

[wjfox]

Actually Jesus existence is pretty sure. He was important political figure.

Proof that he existed please?

[Craven]

Well if you wanna corpse to touch I cannot provide one.
But apart from christian, obviously biased sources, you should ask yourself how did christianity came to be? If not with one remarkable, charismatic guy, then how? But apart from necessity for founder of christianity, there are jew (non-religious, but historical) sources and roman ones. Tacitus in his Annals reffer to Jesus, so I'd go with Occham's Razor on this one and say that Jesus, Siddhattha Gotama existed. And again - I'm not saying that they did miracles, or had any of adventures described in holy books of each religion.
I'd say more, I had to take philosophy class during first year of PhD. and there I heard quite convincing "reconstruction" of Jesus role and teachings. Quite bizzare, but logical theory that he wanted only to reform judaism, not to found new religion, but it all went to hell and new crazy religion came to be.

[wjfox]

[Craven]

This video reffers only to miracles and divinity-stuff. I'm not talking about virginal conception really
I'm only saying that it's more than likely that Jesus was a charismatic jew, around 2000 years ago who founded christianity (maybe unwillingly, during his attempt to reform judaism).

[Shimmy]

I was under the impression pretty much all the sources which mention him were written long after his death, and the whole story was pretty much created for political purposes by the empire. But I'm not an expert in the matter.

[jjf3]

This video reffers only to miracles and divinity-stuff. I'm not talking about virginal conception really
I'm only saying that it's more than likely that Jesus was a charismatic jew, around 2000 years ago who founded christianity (maybe unwillingly, during his attempt to reform judaism).

Life of Jesus Christ--Are you ready?: After travelling and training sometime with the Buddha, A charismatic Jew did some teaching on a hill top one day. People listened. Peter learned a little bit more about fishing. The man Jesus was intelligent/trained enough to slow down his body processes when they "Tied" to the cross. Not nailed/bleeding that's christian symbolism for you. Thus he was "resurrected" after being taken down. He went off into hiding shortly afterwards.

Whatever he said, if the Bible has any hint to his real message in it, must have been VERY VERY Amazing for people to pass it down for 2000 years.

Let's see a tea party member say that!