Who was the most influential person in human history?

Who was the most influential person in history?

  • Sir Isaac Newton

    Votes: 1 9.1%

  • Jesus Christ

    Votes: 6 54.5%

  • Muhammad

    Votes: 1 9.1%

  • Johanas Guttenburg

    Votes: 3 27.3%

  • Tsai Lun

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    11
  • Poll closed .
I see that the vote is going Jesus way. I suspect those who voted for Jesus are incapable of objectivity. For example, Jesus influence is pretty much limited to the western world where as Isaac Newton has influenced nearly all of humanity from his time on.

I wonder how those who voted for Jesus can support that vote when the data clearly shows that Newton and Muhammad were more influential?
 
Mottleydude said:
I see that the vote is going Jesus way. I suspect those who voted for Jesus are incapable of objectivity. For example, Jesus influence is pretty much limited to the western world where as Isaac Newton has influenced nearly all of humanity from his time on.

I wonder how those who voted for Jesus can support that vote when the data clearly shows that Newton and Muhammad were more influential?
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I'm surprised you discounted the influence of the great greek philosophers. Socrates and Aristole arguably had as much, or more influence than Isacc Newton.
 
Cypress said:
I'm surprised you discounted the influence of the great greek philosophers. Socrates and Aristole arguably had as much, or more influence than Isacc Newton.
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I didn't discount anyones influence per se. Aristotle was a great influence and he formed the basis of what is known as western philosophy. Unfortunately much of Aristotle's influence has been discredited in modern times as being wrong. Particularly his influence on natural philosophy which has been mostly discredited. Still his influence was huge but not in the same league as those in the top 5 I listed. I don't even know if those two would make the top 10 but the top 20 for sure.
 
Damocles said:
What do you think "influence" means? It is how one thing effects the other. It is what the thread is about.

The printed word most definitely influenced the advances you are saying were the most influential. You argue that their existence created the largest influence, I suggest that they are only part of the larger influence that came from information exchange only allowed because of something with greater influence.

If you feel it is a waste of time, don't comment in a thread that is literally about what you don't want to speak on.
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Then adam and eve were the most influential persons of all time and the rest of them don't even compare.
 
Mottleydude said:
Not to parse words but oil and antibiotics were not invented but discovered. I also think you over estimate their influence. For example. What's more influential, the discovery of oil or the invention of the internal combustion engine and it's underpinning of Newtonian physics? Ditto for antibiotics. What's more influential the discovery of antibiotics or evolutionary theory which is its scientific underpinning?

If my list was "Most influential scientist" then certainly Charles Darwin would be #2 on the list.

Same with Inventors, though I'd place Nickolaus Otto much farther down the list of most influential inventors. That list would be;

Tsai Lun (invented paper)
Guttenburg (invented movable type printing press)
James Watt (invented steam engine)
Eli Whitney (invented American Manufacturing system of interchangeable parts combined with power machinery)
Nickolaus Otto (inventor of internal combustion engine)
Henry Ford (inventor modern assembly line)

Notice that these all come in historical order? That is because the preceding inventor had a profound influence on those who came after.
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The theory of evolution is nice but it hasn't saved anyone from dying yet. It's not a practical discovery, but one just for the sake of knowledge.
 
Mottleydude said:
Yes one could and you are correct but his influence as a natural philosopher far exceeded his influence as a religious philosopher which is negligible.
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Not negligible at all, in fact, he is largely responsible for the majority of protestant translation of the Gospels. As for nature, he wasn't as much a philosopher as he was a scientist.
 
Watermark said:
The theory of evolution is nice but it hasn't saved anyone from dying yet. It's not a practical discovery, but one just for the sake of knowledge.
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Are you kidding me? It's the foundational theory of biology. The theory behind vaccinations and antibiotics is evolutionary theory. Evolutionary theory, as an applied theory, has saved millions of lives.
 
Dixie said:
Not negligible at all, in fact, he is largely responsible for the majority of protestant translation of the Gospels. As for nature, he wasn't as much a philosopher as he was a scientist.
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Uh Dixie....a natural philosopher is a synonym for a scientist. Until recent times physicist were called natural philosophers and their field of study was called natural philosophy. One of the south's greatest generals, Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson taught natural philosophy (physics) at VMI.
 
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