Who is the most important person who ever existed

Sac O Spuds

Sac O Spuds wrote: »

That British lad that brought the spuds to Ireland. Walter Raleigh. Sure without him we'd surely have starved to - oh wait.

People forget the potato originally helped to build the population.

Arghus

The first lad.

dotsman

For those saying Jesus, or questioning if he was real - Yes, pretty much every historian agrees he did exist - what is debated is his teachings/miracles and whether he was the "son of god" etc.

But, if it wasn't for the roman empire, Christianity wouldn't have gone anywhere and Jesus would have just been 1 of countless preaching chaps throughout history.

So, to answer the OP. You really got to work backwards. Ultimately, Europe has had, by far, the most profound impact on the the world today compare to any other continent. So then you look at what has had the most profound impact on European history, and you would have to say the Roman empire. So, looking at that, you ask what Roman figure had the most influence on Rome becoming what it did, and you would have to say Julius Caesar.

Until Caesar, roman expansion had typically been slow, more focused on the Mediterranean and mainly came about from conflicts with other major civilisations. It was Caesar who conquered Gaul (a huge massive expansion of Roman territory in one feat) and even invaded Britain (without which, Britain's future might have just ended up being a small player rather than the British empire 1700 years later). Not only this, but this paved the way for every Roman leader after him to want to conquer (and typically somewhere in Europe). Also (and equally important), he brought about the end of the Roman Republic, and started the Roman Empire, which would shape the world for the next few centuries and lay the foundations of "the West" as we call it today. The mere fact that Jesus had existed in the Roman empire meant the Christian religion, once it penetrated the capitol, meant it spread to the entire "civilised" world and show just how influential the Roman empire has been on history.

Hell, in a few weeks, we will be in July which is named after him. A month later, we will be in August, named after his heir and grand-nephew (who solidified the work Caesar had started).

Blackjack

Larbre34 wrote: »

Excellent thread.

It's a great conversation really. Are we talking about the person with the greatest influence on human history? If so how, and could and would another person have made the same contribution eventually anyway?

Shortlist of:

King John Plantagenet of England for the Magna Carta, though he was under external pressure to create it.

Da Vinci for his far sighted engineering and unmatched artistry, though other people were almost as revolutionary in the Renaissance.

Isaac Newton, the father of modern physics

James Watt for steam power, though he wasn't alone in exploring it.

Joseph Henry for remote communication, long before Samuel Morse or Thomas Edison.

Karl Benz (cars), Stephenson (trains), Brunel (massive engineering), Logie Baird, AG Bell, Marconi, Galileo, Shakespeare, Moses, Mozart, Fleming, Pasteur, Boyle, Mohammed, the Curies, Jesus, Chuck Berry, Wordsworth, Mark Twain, the Mesopotamians, Aeneas of Troy (the real founder of Rome) etc etc.

All worthy nominees. However, for original thought and inspiration, for unique influential genius, for the degree of advancement and contribution to Mankind in terms of sheer knowledge and power, my winner is Albert Einstein.

Recommended listening, for anyone interested in this sort of conversation.

Capt'n Midnight

Deleted User wrote: »

People forget the potato originally helped to build the population.

People forget that in earlier famines there was a ban on exporting food.

Kaybaykwah

Sac O Spuds wrote: »

That British lad that brought the spuds to Ireland. Walter Raleigh. Sure without him we'd surely have starved to - oh wait.

However many Irish weren't finished off by imminent famine, those who partook of the excellent tobacco Raleigh furnished them with, also shortened their lives by a mile.

Hamsterchops

Nice bikes.

He gave the ride to a lot of people.

Kaybaykwah

Hamsterchops wrote: »

Nice bikes.

He gave the ride to a lot of people.

Yep. Great contributor he was.

Nobody mentioned the Michelin man, a well rounded individual if ever there was.
Wasn't he the guy who came up with the concept of inflation?

Lucy, humankinds mummy.

Markcheese

Candie wrote: »

Lucy, humankinds mummy.

Probably - not that she knew it - or the first one who came down from the trees and hung out in the savanahs- maybe the first to regularly use fire as a tool -for warmth,protection ,cooking .... The first to fashion wooden or stone tools - the first to come up with writing - the list goes on ...

Cee-Jay-Cee

Probably the person who invented the internet, whatchamacallhim, John something...

branie2

Michael Collins, as he fought for our freedom.

Wibbs

Deleted User wrote: »

Interesting fact about Da Vinci he created amazing anatomical drawings but because they were lost and developed elsewhere before being refound he doesn't get 'credit' for them.

A large part of that was his secretive nature and that he avoided that new fangled printing thing entirely. He did do a frontispiece for a mate's book as a favour but that was it. If he'd published books he'd have become more well known and directly influential. His main influence has been as the "ultimate genius" and polymath rather than anything he actually did. He finished few paintings and most of his fantastical machines wouldn't have worked. Well, actually one obvious but marvelously simple invention of his did and it's one most people don't know about.



The canal lock gate. Something that can be operated singlehandedly, seals well, simple in construction and without Leo's design found on nigh on every canal in Europe and then the world the industrial revolution would have looked very different.

Ash.J.Williams

innovations in industry had a negative impact on us so rule them out! capitalism isn't natural.

Wibbs

Markcheese wrote: »

Probably - not that she knew it - or the first one who came down from the trees and hung out in the savanahs- maybe the first to regularly use fire as a tool -for warmth,protection ,cooking .... The first to fashion wooden or stone tools - the first to come up with writing - the list goes on ...

Homo Erectus would probably be the previous human that changed things the most. Lucy and her ilk hung about in Africa, wasn't very bright, likely used tools in much the same way chimps do, but Erectus was different. They were the first regular tool users and created more complex tools. They were the first fire users too. We don't know whether they could deliberately make fire or did they capture and store it after lightning strikes and the like. Fire use is an odd one. It seems to come and go in humanities record. Even in modern humans there were/are cultures who can't make it. The Andaman islanders being one. The big thing Erectus did was leave Africa. They were the first wandering humans who spread to Europe and throughout Asia and were still around 100,000 odd years ago. They may have even contributed to the DNA of living peoples in east Asia. From local Erectus peoples we got Neandertals and Denisovians and Modern Humans and ultimately us as a mix of all those.

Wibbs

Ash.J.Williams wrote: »

innovations in industry had a negative impact on us so rule them out! capitalism isn't natural.

You have to be having a laugh... while writing that on a device that wouldn't exist on a platform that wouldn't exist in a house that wouldn't exist wearing clothes that wouldn't exist without innovations in industry and capitalism.

Banana Republic 1

Graecopithecus

PhilOssophy

Wibbs wrote: »

A large part of that was his secretive nature and that he avoided that new fangled printing thing entirely. He did do a frontispiece for a mate's book as a favour but that was it. If he'd published books he'd have become more well known and directly influential. His main influence has been as the "ultimate genius" and polymath rather than anything he actually did. He finished few paintings and most of his fantastical machines wouldn't have worked. Well, actually one obvious but marvelously simple invention of his did and it's one most people don't know about.



The canal lock gate. Something that can be operated singlehandedly, seals well, simple in construction and without Leo's design found on nigh on every canal in Europe and then the world the industrial revolution would have looked very different.

Lovely picture of the canal there. Its a pity it doesn't often look so lovely!

Himnydownunder

RobertKK wrote: »

It is two people: parents.

We owe them our very existence.

You might want to also thank Arthur Guinness

silliussoddius

Himnydownunder wrote: »

You might want to also thank Arthur Guinness

Or in the case of some people, the Italia 90 football team or the goal scorer in any given year of the All Ireland Final.

Jethro tull

The man who perfected many of horse drawn crop sowing and general agri equipment in the early 1700s

chooseusername

Deleted User wrote: »

Jethro tull

The man who perfected many of horse drawn crop sowing and general agri equipment in the early 1700s

You're living in the past, man

silliussoddius

Deleted User wrote: »

Jethro tull

The man who perfected many of horse drawn crop sowing and general agri equipment in the early 1700s

What about the man who domesticated the horse?

Kaybaykwah

silliussoddius wrote: »

What about the man who domesticated the horse?

Yes, it was fine in the days they snorted horse. The trouble began when they started shooting up.

[Deleted User]

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Jethro tull

The man who perfected many of horse drawn crop sowing and general agri equipment in the early 1700s

And went on to make some banging tunes

PaoloGotti

Charles Darwin. He literally de-mystified our existence.

Close second is Einstein. What a mind.

Ash.J.Williams

Wibbs wrote: »

You have to be having a laugh... while writing that on a device that wouldn't exist on a platform that wouldn't exist in a house that wouldn't exist wearing clothes that wouldn't exist without innovations in industry and capitalism.

i know i am but that doesn't make it right

Vestiapx

Fritz Haber would be regarded far more highly if he hadn't invented chemical warfare.

He received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1918 for his invention of the Haber–Bosch process, a method used in industry to synthesize ammonia from nitrogen gas and hydrogen gas. This invention is of importance for the large-scale synthesis of fertilizers and explosives. It is estimated that two thirds of annual global food production uses nitrogen from the Haber-Bosch process, and that this supports nearly half the world population.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Haber

zom

It is really weird nobody mentioned it yet on boards but old good Roger Waters just published offer he got from Facebook about using "Another Brock in the Wall" as Instagram add:

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/roger-waters-rejects-facebook-offer-another-brick-in-the-wall-1183773/

He also told what he thinks about Mark Zuckerberg:

How did this little prick who started out as ‘She’s pretty, we’ll give her a four out of five, she’s ugly, we’ll give her a four out of five,’ how did we give him any power? And yet here he is, one of the most powerful idiots in the world.

Capt'n Midnight

zom wrote: »

It is really weird nobody mentioned it yet on boards but old good Roger Waters just published offer he got from Facebook about using "Another Brock in the Wall" as Instagram add:

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/roger-waters-rejects-facebook-offer-another-brick-in-the-wall-1183773/
He also told what he thinks about Mark Zuckerberg:How did this little prick who started out as ‘She’s pretty, we’ll give her a four out of five, she’s ugly, we’ll give her a four out of five,’ how did we give him any power? And yet here he is, one of the most powerful idiots in the world.

Do not expect ethical behaviour from Zuckerberg who used passwords obtained through Facebook to log into Journalists email accounts.