The Great People of Real Life

[Wolfe Tone]

I'd have to say the first guy to harness fire has got to be pretty high up the list.

 

[Verbose]

You might want to consider Plato.

How about Qin Shi-huangdi, the First emperor of China?

 

[Bozo Erectus]

Moses

Moses? Isnt that kind of like putting Odysseus on the list?

 

[cairo140]

I think the Jesus question basically boils down to if you're Christian or not. If you're Christian, then He has to come first, because it's obvious that God should top the list of Most Important Persons. If you're not, then Jesus is a nice guy who said and did some wonderful stuff, and had much better PR than all the other nice guys who said and did some wonderful stuff. A non-Christian's list should probably have Paul above Jesus, since Jesus didn't even say anything radically new morally speaking, and maybe not even put Jesus in the top ten.

I'm not a Christian. I put Jesus as number one not because he was the so-called "image of God." I decided to place him at the top of my list because of the consequences of what he did. The movement (which would not have started if it were not for him) changed the world and continues to influence it today.

As for putting St. Paul above Jesus, the main idea I had for that is that Christianity may just as well have spread led by someone other than St. Paul, and it is unlikely that the religion would be much different. However, Christianity would never have existed without Jesus.

As for the question that Jesus didn't do anything radically morally speaking, I would agree, and I don't see any way around that idea other than to say that no religious leader really introduced a huge change (in fact, the biggest doctrinal change in Christianity was "love thy enemies," a rule that was not exactly followed by a cornucopia of Christian leaders in history).

I wouldn't have Jesus in my list, given that I don't believe he existed, and that the Jesus myth elvolved from the fact that Jerusalem and the surrounding area was a hotbed of Jewish insurgents and that time and that Christianity spread the myth as a way of furthering itself.

You raise an excellent point. I am no expert on history, but I think it is the case that Jesus, the person, actually did have a life (6 B.C. to 32 A.D.), and whole crucifixion fiasco actually happened. The mythological Jesus, I agree, is just needless religious fable. But discounting any of his mythical powers, his existence in itself was IMO a huge influence on world history.

Karl Marx I would defo have in my top 10 because his writings influenced the entire 20th Century includiong critically both World Wars, first one being that Marxists (Bolsheviks) pulled Russia out of world war 1 and the second being that Hitler got into power with alot of help due to German Conservative/Christian fear of Soviet Russia, and then of course proceeded to engage in a the biggest war we have ever seen. Then the whole of the 2nd half of the centrury was a 'conflict' between the West and the Marxist influenced Soviet Union.

This is an even more excellent point, ComradeDavo. Marx and Engels were pretty much the idols of the (former) Soviet Movement. I think, had this been written in 1985, Marx would have easily been in the top ten, but now, after the fall of the USSR, and the relative decimation of communism on Earth, Marx's influence on world history has declined, so to speak. At the peak of Zoroastrianism (sp?), Zoroaster would have earned a relatively high spot, and in mid-1941, Hitler would have been similarly credited. However, their influence has declined with the essential death of their movements. Marx is a worthy consideration, however, because of his enormous influence. Thank you lots for your input.

 

[ComradeDavo]

Thnaks

However, their influence has declined with the essential death of their movements.

Ah yes, but remember to look at it in how that person has changed peoples mindsets as well.

 

[kingjoshi]

The reason for Jesus at #1 is completely flawed. By the same logic, his mother is quite important. If she had an abortion, Jesus would be meaningless. And His father and maybe the midwife. There were many supposed messiahs at the time. Paul is the one to spread the religion.

The system has inherent bias for acts earlier. Without Asoka, how much would Buddhism have spread? But without Buddha, Asoka would've never been Buddhist to change his ways. Without Marx, would Stalin have been powerful and used another idea to gain his power?

Without the knowledge of the early Greeks, could others have built up on their knowledge? Without the destruction of the knowledge by the Churches, would technological advancements happened centuries earlier? Are you going to credit that with Paul, Jesus, his mother or the fact that humans have a tendency for violence and religious beliefs anyhow, so it's actually the rulers at the time given credit?

This need to define most influential is odd. Without George Washington, where would the US be? Would it even be? Would anyone be having this discussion on the Internet? Maybe we should appreciate Al Gore for his initiatives in Congress.

BTW: Muslims in Turkey had already known about how to prevent small pox, before Pasteur. Von Neumann may be the smartest man to have lived in 20th century and the computer is known as the Von Neumann computer (his architectural design). Godel and Turing fundamentally changed mathematics and forged computing.

Without religious creators, wars would've still been fought, empires created and empires crumbled. Without Gandhi, when would there have been independence? Would you have had a split up (Pakistan, Bangladesh, India) and following wars? There are billions of people in India and they're all affected by it.

 

[BCLG100]

I think those 6 have been very influential over the world and right now i cant think of someone that would knock them out of place.

 

[Atropos]

So many candidates, so hard to compare... But in no particular order:
Jesus
Mohammad
St Paul
Lenin
Plato
Newton

 

[amadeus]

I'm still trying to figure out why you included Mao in your list. His actions may have led to the deaths of 72,000,000+ people, but he will be remembered only for that and nothing else.

 

[Smidgey]

I think you need to include Gandhi and perhaps Plato or Aristotle. I'm unsure which philosopher is more important, as even current philosophers disagree about that .

 

[pboily]

I'm still trying to figure out why you included Mao in your list. His actions may have led to the deaths of 72,000,000+ people, but he will be remembered only for that and nothing else.

1. This is NOT a list of the "best" people. Even if a person was utterly evil, he must be given credit for those acts (if they did indeed change the world).

I'd say Mao indeed changed the world. A 20th century with a non-communist China is vastly different from a 20th century with a communist China.

Or maybe I'm misrepresenting the spirit of the opening post...

My list would include Ghangis Khan in there, as well.

 

[Narz]

I am surprise that no one mentions this guy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing

Yeah, he kicks ass and was born on my birthday.

So was Johannes Gutenberg.

and Selma Blair.

 

[Tycoon101]

Jesus of course must be #1
Muhhamed is # 2

Hitler in my opinion is one of the most influential people due to the impact of his life:
1. Millions of soldiers and civilians killed due to his actions. (Directly and indirectly)
2. Nuclear bombs may not have been used the USA on Japan if they haden't joined in. (Indirect Effects count, right?)
3. He was an excellent speaker that created a political party that still(minimally) lives today.
4. Excellent military commander.

I DO NOT JUSTIFY HIS ACTIONS.
This is only to say that he was an influence, albeit a evil one at that.

 

[Enkidu Warrior]

Stalin, Alexander, Einstein, Qin Shi Huang, Buddha, Muhammed, St Paul, Plato, Hitler, Confucius in no particular order. I feel uncomfortable putting Stalin and Hitler in the same list as people like Plato and Einstein but they did shape the world.

 

[Weird Piggy]

Jesus has to be in the top 10. This is a list of people who influenced other people. Jesus has influence Billions people, you can't agrue with that.

Mao, Hitler and Stalin all changed the world, maybe not is a good way though.

 

[Ramius75]

Well, 1st, this list has some error as in the thread title said the greatest, but we discussing about the most influential. So therefore, it could be good or bad. Depends on how one sees it and personal agendas.

Giving the most influential, Philosophers will get top in the list.

Eg. Jesus, Buddha, Mohammad, Plato, Socrates, Marx, Confucious, Lao Zhi.

Next will be some military leaders who went around conquering lands and move border hence expanding the culture borders and exchange.

eg Alexander, Julius Ceaser, Han Wudi, Mohammad, Charlemagne etc etc

Next will be the scientist which invention changes the life of others.

eg. Newton, Einstein, Ibn al-Haitham, Aristotle, Archimedes etc etc

Then there are also political leaders.
eg. Ghandhi, Mao Tzedong, Lenin, Hilter, Jefferson, Bengamin franklin, Queen Elizabeth, Queen Victoria, Cornwell.

There are still many thou, like educators, doctors or even some individual that change the course of history by just 1 act even thou they arent aware of it. e.g. Rosa Parks.

 

[Urederra]

http://cincoranch.uh.edu/engines/epi1375.htm

Nope Liebniz came up with it at the same time sorry to burst your bubble.

I knew that. What I find amazing is that being said by a briton. sidhe.

Martin Luther King wouldn't be among the top 50 in my list, BTW. There were many many more influential people in history.

 

[Truronian]

My list would be:

1. Muhammed
2. St. John
3. Confucious
4. Julius Caeser
5. Genghis Khan
6. Saladin
7. Marx
8. Hitler
9. Einstein
10. Alexander The Great

I'm assuming the biggest change is caused by conquest, especially cultural conquest, or by the spreading of religion. The people in my list represent the people without whom the world would (IMO) be most different.

 

[GinandTonic]

I am surprise that no one mentions this guy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing

And Guttenberg for his printing press, Jethro Tull for the seed drill.

Edit just read that Naz already said this. Doh

 

[Masquerouge]

I truly believe that should be believe these kind of list mean anything, then Muhammad would no matter what be above Jesus.
I think that had both not existed, the world woud be a very different place today. The OP talks about how the Christian legacy impacted Europe, well guess what: Islam impacted a fair share of the world too. BUT if you look at how influent they were during their OWN lifetime, then there's no doubt that Muhammad was much, much more influent than Jesus.
Jesus managed to convert a few people, and barely stirred trouble in the Roman province he was in.
Muhammad, on the other hand, unified a lot of tribes and waged wars that greatly extended the Dar al Islam.

But anyway such lists are so subjective that they should not be taken very seriously.