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What people from modern times will be talked about in 1000 years?

snowstorm445

This is inspired by a thread I saw on another forum, a really interesting thing to consider.

It's completely impossible to know what the world of 3020 AD will look like - even assuming that there will be human beings as we recognise them today around at that stage is presumptious. We may well have gone extinct by then, or we might have genetically engineered ourselves into a completely different form (see transhumanism, and all that comes with that). So let's assume for the purposes of this question, there are still homo sapiens around that basically resemble us. Whether they still live here on Earth or elsewhere is another question altogether as well.

What people from the last century or so (since the end of the First World War or thereabouts) will still be remembered? What figures will stand out from 1000 years ago?

I think a lot of this will have to do with what this future civilisation values in historical figures. Obviously when we look back at our own history, we recognise powerful political and military leaders, but depending on the point in time, we remember people for other reasons. Renaissance Europe is known mostly for outstanding cultural figures rather than military ones - people remember Michelangelo and Donatello much better than the individual Medici rulers who sponsored them. When we look back on Ancient Greece, philosophers like Plato, Aristotle and Socrates are probably even better known than Pericles or Leonidas or any of the political figures of that time (apart from maybe Alexander the Great). Religions and spiritual philosophies/movements are also sometimes better known than individual rulers, such as with Confucius or the Buddha.

You could imagine a future society might value scientific people above all others, in which case those involved in the development of computing - Charles Babbage, Ada Lovelace, Alan Turing etc would be celebrated the most. Or biologists, Darwin, Wallace, Watson, Crick, Rosalind Franklin etc. Political figures would still stand out too, but they may be different to the ones we might consider noteworthy. People who foresaw things that we aren't generally aware of yet perhaps? We might consider Barack Obama significant in being the first non-white leader of the United States, but a future society might have moved past race altogether to the extent that they don't value it as much as we do today (in the same way that we have completely forgotten about distinctions like aristocrat/commoner, or barbarian vs civilised people etc.)

I certainly think the following have the best bet at being at least standing out from this time:

- Neil Armstrong/Buzz Aldrin, first on another world, whether mankind lives beyond Earth at that stage or not, it is still a remarkable and unprecedented achievement in human history.
- Same goes for Gagarin, maybe Amundsen, Hillary/Tenzing etc.
- People responsible for major political movements, in particular Lenin (for modern communism), Gandhi (non-violent resistance), perhaps even someone obscure today who advocated environmentalism, something they value much more highly.
- Notoriously bloody political leaders, Hitler, Stalin, Mao etc. We tend to remember the tyrants from history, more than the ones who ruled over relative calm (Caligula, vs say Tiberius or Claudius).
- Iconic cultural figures? Elvis? The Beatles? Queen? Hitchcock? Or phenomenon like Star Trek/Star Wars, pioneering science fiction? Maybe cultural appetites might have shifted completely?
- Ryan Tubridy? (just messing

)

Anyone you think might stand out to our descendants in a thousand years time?

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ILoveYourVibes

Covid vaccine inventors.

Cluedo Monopoly

That utter chancer Nostradamus.

Bogfairy

James Cordon. Cause he's the biggest cu*t that was ever created.

atilladehun

Based on the Renaissance I'd say there'd be less firsts than you think and more broad cultural impact. Bill Gates for example put a computer in every home and workplace, Jobs in every hand.

There were technological advances in art but the names you know from the Renaissance used them in superb ways.

Same with first in space, the person who makes it broadly attainable or useful will get more credit.

Pop music and movies will be 20th century icons, this century hasn't defined itself yet.

Whenseptends

Maradona

Leg End Reject

I think the queen has a good shot. I'm not sure the UK (or any other) monarchy will survive and she'll be remembered as the world's longest serving monarch.

Mr_Muffin

Russell Brand will be known as one of the great philosophers.

Ronin247

Donald Trump will be unfrozen from his cryogenic slumber and start talking about when he was defrauded out of the Bigliest election victory ever

Hamsterchops

From modern times . . . .

Albert Einstein.
Queen Elizabeth.
David Bowie.
Usain Bolt.
The Beatles.
Adolf Hitler.
Neil Armstrong.
Mahatma Ghandi.
Elvis Presley.
Sir Winston Churchill.
Joseph Stalin.
Sir Edmund Hillary.
Barack Obama

off the top of me head...

[Deleted User]

Mr_Muffin wrote: »

Russell Brand will be known as one of the great philosophers.

That may be the most terrifying sentence I have ever heard since the movie "Idiocracy" was released.

And actually if all paper records burn away and only digital records survive - then 1000 years from now Joe Rogan will also seem like some kind of prophet or leader. Which is no less terrifying.

[Deleted User]

Hamsterchops wrote: »

From modern times . . . .

Albert Einstein.
Queen Elizabeth.
David Bowie.
Usain Bolt.
The Beatles.
Adolf Hitler.
Neil Armstrong.
Mahatma Ghandi.
Elvis Presley.
Sir Winston Churchill.
Joseph Stalin.
Sir Edmund Hillary.
Barack Obama

off the top of me head...

No. Unless the future is English.

Maybe Hitler. Probably nobody

COVID

'Woke'

looksee

Most of the people from a thousand years ago from now are almost never given any thought by modern day people, except maybe when they go on holiday and visit a museum or historic site. Academics and historians know who the characters of the time were, and how they fitted into the history of a civilisation, but for most people there is only a hazy notion of a few characters who may have had no resemblance to the versions we think of now.

A thousand years ahead, assuming that there has not been any complete change in the way humankind has moved on, probably much the same will have happened. If, say, the continent of Africa becomes the dominant, sophisticated super power then quite possibly the Europeans that you mention will all have pretty much disappeared as irrelevant.

I would imagine that over the next thousand years there will be sufficient trauma and drama of natural and man-made disasters and conflicts that the small, distant voices of the second millenium will be impenetrable and inconsequential to the people of the third millenium. If they are still dating from Christ.

retro:electro

Linda Martin

[Deleted User]

Jedward, for they are timeless.

Not sure about some of the above, Bolt?

To add, The Wright brothers.

Leg End Reject

looksee wrote: »

Most of the people from a thousand years ago from now are almost never given any thought by modern day people, except maybe when they go on holiday and visit a museum or historic site. Academics and historians know who the characters of the time were, and how they fitted into the history of a civilisation, but for most people there is only a hazy notion of a few characters who may have had no resemblance to the versions we think of now.

A thousand years ahead, assuming that there has not been any complete change in the way humankind has moved on, probably much the same will have happened. If, say, the continent of Africa becomes the dominant, sophisticated super power then quite possibly the Europeans that you mention will all have pretty much disappeared as irrelevant.

I would imagine that over the next thousand years there will be sufficient trauma and drama of natural and man-made disasters and conflicts that the small, distant voices of the second millenium will be impenetrable and inconsequential to the people of the third millenium. If they are still dating from Christ.

True, but some are still easily recognised - Tutankhamun, Cleopatra, Julius Caesar.

As mentioned before Hitler will likely be remembered, albeit for the wrong reason.

[Deleted User]

Leg End Reject wrote: »

True, but some are still easily recognised - Tutankhamun, Cleopatra, Julius Caesar.

As mentioned before Hitler will likely be remembered, albeit for the wrong reason.

They are not from 1000 years, but 2000. They will be remembered in 1000 more. A different level from any this century

thomil

J. Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb. I'd be willing to make an argument that the Trinity test was the biggest paradigm shift in human history up to that point, and likely for many centuries to come.

Leg End Reject

[Deleted User] wrote: »

They are not from 1000 years, but 2000. They will be remembered in 1000 more. A different level from any this century

I meant they've all had a lasting legacy, but very few achieve it. The queen and Hitler are the only 2 I think have a chance.

[Deleted User]

Baby shark.

Akrasia

Leg End Reject wrote: »

I meant they've all had a lasting legacy, but very few achieve it. The queen and Hitler are the only 2 I think have a chance.

The queen? Hitler demolishes the queen in terms of long term staying power

The queen isn’t even her real name.

Out of everyone from the current ‘modern’ era. Philosophers religious icons and scientists have the best staying power. People still remember Aristotle, Plato, Epicurus, Democritus, Confucius etc, from the ‘ancient’ era and they still remembers pioneers in science and art, DaVinci, Galileo, Newton, Einstein, as well as modern Philosophers like Kant, Marx, Descartes etc

These will still be in the history books in a thousand years time, but household names? Only time will tell. Anyone who has a branch of science or laws of nature named after them will probably be remembered. Newton, definitely, Einstein, most likely, plank, maybe.. prof Brian Cox... dReams weren’t that good

Church on Tuesday

Nelson Mandela.

The closest thing to a deity us humans ever encountered.

Akrasia

Church on Tuesday wrote: »

Nelson Mandela.

The closest thing to a deity us humans ever encountered.

Really? He died a few years ago and my kids already don’t know who he is.

Political Revolutionary figures live fast, leave a big short term legacy but their long term legacy isn’t their own name, but the structures they helped to create

completedit

Maybe Einstein

Church on Tuesday

Akrasia wrote: »

Really? He died a few years ago and my kids already don’t know who he is.

Political Revolutionary figures live fast, leave a big short term legacy but their long term legacy isn’t their own name, but the structures they helped to create

Depends what age your kids are.

Certainly centuries from now people will talk and be thought about the man.

begbysback

Hamsterchops wrote: »

From modern times . . . .

Albert Einstein.
Queen Elizabeth.
David Bowie.
Usain Bolt.
The Beatles.
Adolf Hitler.
Neil Armstrong.
Mahatma Ghandi.
Elvis Presley.
Sir Winston Churchill.
Joseph Stalin.
Sir Edmund Hillary.
Barack Obama

off the top of me head...

There will be no mention of Elvis in 50 years, never mind 1000 years, completely overrated and already beginning to fade away.

Samantha Fox.

Polly Protestant

Clem Fandango.

With global warming
Man will not be around in 1000 years

Then you will get sea rise as ice melts then you have pollution and nuclear waste japan wants to pour nuclear water into the sea

Over 1.2 million tons of radioactive cooling water from the Fukushima Nuclear Plant will be released.