5 ms·

OTOH, people remember (in a distorted way, to various degrees, highly dependent on culture) Genghis Khan Attila the Hun Jesus Christ Buddha Moses A few ot

OTOH, people remember (in a distorted way, to various degrees, highly dependent on culture) Genghis Khan Attila the Hun Jesus Christ Buddha Moses A few other prophets Archimedes Gaius Julius Caesar

britch 8y ago
Yes there are people who will be "remembered" for a very long time. People will likely know artist's depictions of Julius Caesar and George Washington for a while. We know some ancient people's names. We can imagine some depiction of them. We may even know what they supposedly did. How much of it is accurate at this point? Can the average person, off the top of their head, explain who Attila the Hun was, what he did, and why it mattered with any degree of accuracy? Even the VERY rare few who are remembered for 1000s of years are remembered more as myths than as the people they were and what they accomplished.
- cableshaft 8y ago
  At the very least, those that were writers we can still read their words, and can get a feel for who they were as people (or at least how they wanted to be presented as people), their ideas, and what they cared about. George Washington, for example, was a prolific writer. Here's a link to 14 volumes of his writings (mostly letters, journals, and speeches, it looks like): https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/washington-the-writings-of-george-washington-14-vols https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/washington-the-writings-o... As an example, here's an interesting letter I ran into of him sending a letter to a captain telling him to sell a negro he included with the letter as a slave and fetch him certain goods in return: https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/washington-the-writings-of-george-washington-vol-ii-1758-1775#lf1450-02_head_079 https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/washington-the-writings-o...
- sonnyblarney 8y ago
  Distinction should be made among the religious figures clearly. Moses probably was not a real historical person, or at least there is a lot of doubt. Jesus probably was a historical person, but even the rational faithful obviously don't consider the Bible necessarily to be a clear historical narrative. We know quite a lot about the various Emperors of Rome, and quite a lot about the development of Roman history. If you actually dig into the history of Rome, it's remarkable how so many of the issues we face today already existed back then, and how much they were able to achieve without Enlightenment principles. Given how much we depend on the past, how we really are just extensions of it, I find it hard to agree with the premise of the article. Though it's always good to read contrarian ideas, and I do think there is a hint of Eastern wisdom in it as well, to be considered.
pradn 8y ago
Similarly, we can ask the question: name one person from the 10th century. I bet most people would not be able to. We probably don't have one person for each of the ten centuries of the first millenium. And forget about anyone before 500 BC or so! In a thousand years, we'll have the same question: name one person from the 21st century. Who will it be? Which of the 15-20 American presidents will even be visible? Who'll be the McKinley and who'll be the Lincoln? I expect for the 20th century it'll be Hitler or Einstein or Churchill or MLK or someone like that. Surely not Clark Gable or Elvis!
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- spacegod 8y ago
  It'll be Putin after he successfully leads Russia back
- cableshaft 8y ago
  Different professions care about different people. Musicians (and honestly, the average layperson) can name classical musicians at least as far back as the Renaissance, and those in Theatre can name classic Greek plays from well over a thousand years ago (Medea, Antigone, Oedipus Rex don't ring any bells? Oedipus Rex was first performed in 429 BC!). Philosophers can name Socrates and Aristotle (and most other people can too). How about games? Go is 2500 years old at this point and still going strong. Sure we don't remember the name of the person who first put it out there, but there wasn't a desire to record that back then. Shigeru Miyamoto will be tied to Mario for a long, long time. Or Walt Disney with Mickey Mouse and theme parks. They might not be household names in a thousand years, but there will be historians and documentaries about them (and hopefully their works will be properly archived so people wanting to be educated on the history of film or games can still enjoy them). If something or someone leaves enough of an impression on society, they can be remembered for thousands of years, and still be relevant to people in those fields (and even outside of those fields). It's not guaranteed to be remembered, or for the people who were involved with it to be remembered specifically, but the result can be. And even if it's not remembered by the public at large, there are people out there who will find value in remembering and reminding people about these things.
gus_massa 8y ago
Apparently the easiest way to be remembered for a long time is killing a lot of people. :(
- towaway1138 8y ago
  Well, it is a lot harder than it sounds...

OTOH, people remember (in a distorted way, to various degrees, highly dependent on culture) Genghis Khan Attila the Hun Jesus Christ Buddha Moses A few other prophets Archimedes Gaius Julius Caesar

britch 8y ago

Yes there are people who will be "remembered" for a very long time. People will likely know artist's depictions of Julius Caesar and George Washington for a while. We know some ancient people's names. We can imagine some depiction of them. We may even know what they supposedly did. How much of it is accurate at this point? Can the average person, off the top of their head, explain who Attila the Hun was, what he did, and why it mattered with any degree of accuracy? Even the VERY rare few who are remembered for 1000s of years are remembered more as myths than as the people they were and what they accomplished.

cableshaft 8y ago
At the very least, those that were writers we can still read their words, and can get a feel for who they were as people (or at least how they wanted to be presented as people), their ideas, and what they cared about. George Washington, for example, was a prolific writer. Here's a link to 14 volumes of his writings (mostly letters, journals, and speeches, it looks like): https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/washington-the-writings-of-george-washington-14-vols https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/washington-the-writings-o... As an example, here's an interesting letter I ran into of him sending a letter to a captain telling him to sell a negro he included with the letter as a slave and fetch him certain goods in return: https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/washington-the-writings-of-george-washington-vol-ii-1758-1775#lf1450-02_head_079 https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/washington-the-writings-o...
sonnyblarney 8y ago
Distinction should be made among the religious figures clearly. Moses probably was not a real historical person, or at least there is a lot of doubt. Jesus probably was a historical person, but even the rational faithful obviously don't consider the Bible necessarily to be a clear historical narrative. We know quite a lot about the various Emperors of Rome, and quite a lot about the development of Roman history. If you actually dig into the history of Rome, it's remarkable how so many of the issues we face today already existed back then, and how much they were able to achieve without Enlightenment principles. Given how much we depend on the past, how we really are just extensions of it, I find it hard to agree with the premise of the article. Though it's always good to read contrarian ideas, and I do think there is a hint of Eastern wisdom in it as well, to be considered.

pradn 8y ago

Similarly, we can ask the question: name one person from the 10th century. I bet most people would not be able to. We probably don't have one person for each of the ten centuries of the first millenium. And forget about anyone before 500 BC or so! In a thousand years, we'll have the same question: name one person from the 21st century. Who will it be? Which of the 15-20 American presidents will even be visible? Who'll be the McKinley and who'll be the Lincoln? I expect for the 20th century it'll be Hitler or Einstein or Churchill or MLK or someone like that. Surely not Clark Gable or Elvis!

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
spacegod 8y ago
It'll be Putin after he successfully leads Russia back
cableshaft 8y ago
Different professions care about different people. Musicians (and honestly, the average layperson) can name classical musicians at least as far back as the Renaissance, and those in Theatre can name classic Greek plays from well over a thousand years ago (Medea, Antigone, Oedipus Rex don't ring any bells? Oedipus Rex was first performed in 429 BC!). Philosophers can name Socrates and Aristotle (and most other people can too). How about games? Go is 2500 years old at this point and still going strong. Sure we don't remember the name of the person who first put it out there, but there wasn't a desire to record that back then. Shigeru Miyamoto will be tied to Mario for a long, long time. Or Walt Disney with Mickey Mouse and theme parks. They might not be household names in a thousand years, but there will be historians and documentaries about them (and hopefully their works will be properly archived so people wanting to be educated on the history of film or games can still enjoy them). If something or someone leaves enough of an impression on society, they can be remembered for thousands of years, and still be relevant to people in those fields (and even outside of those fields). It's not guaranteed to be remembered, or for the people who were involved with it to be remembered specifically, but the result can be. And even if it's not remembered by the public at large, there are people out there who will find value in remembering and reminding people about these things.

gus_massa 8y ago

Apparently the easiest way to be remembered for a long time is killing a lot of people. :(

towaway1138 8y ago
Well, it is a lot harder than it sounds...