Which people would you include in a Voyager cache?
“Best of” lists are almost impossible. For example, Jerry Rice would be on many Americans’ best footballer, Gary Ablett would be on many Australians’ and perhaps Pele in soccer but only Pele is world famous. Where would Don Bradman or Babe Ruth be? Where would you put Stirling Moss or Bobby Moore?
A different way to look at it is to have a Voyager type spaceship go out and you’re allowed to put one human exponent in each of twelve fields, as appear below. Now it is not necessarily the greatest but the first one you think of as great, the one with the greatest influence and the best known. While a champ from the 2000s might be great, he hasn’t the pedigree, the longevity yet to earn a place on the spaceship, e.g. Federer.
Without further ado, here are mine and I’d like to know yours:
1. Literary figure: Shakespeare
2. Musical figure: Mozart
3. Artist: Michelangelo
4. Film figure: Hitchcock
5. Sportsperson: Nadia Comaneci
6. Adventurer/explorer: Steve Fossett
7. Philanthropist/medico: Jesus of Nazareth
8. Inventor/theorist: Nikola Tesla
9. Scientist/mathematician: Johannes Kepler
10. World leader [not evil]: Julius Caesar
11. Philosopher: Aristotle
12. All rounder: Leonardo
As well as this, I include the five most destructive men or women in history:
1. Mohammed
2. Rothschild family head at any time
3. Marx
4. Stalin
5. Hitler
Your opinion?
Filed under: Diversions, Leisure, travel & sport, Politics & economics, Society & human issues, Technology & ideas
Had trouble narrowing a couple down.
1. Literary figure: Shakespeare (natch)
2. Musical figure: Johann Sebastian Bach
3. Artist: Vincent Van Gogh
4. Film figure: Orson Welles or DW Griffith
5. Sportsperson: Individual: Carl Lewis or Muhammed Ali
All Rounder: Daley Thompson
Team Player: Dan Marino
6. Adventurer/explorer: Sir Richard Francis Burton
7. Philanthropist/medico: Albert Schweitzer
8. Inventor/theorist: Nikola Tesla (same)
9. Scientist/mathematician: Sir Isaac Newton
10. World leader [not evil]: Winston Churchill
11. Philosopher: Plato
12. All rounder: Leonardo (Obviously as with no. 1)
The five most destructive men or women in history:
1. Karl Marx
2. Mohammed
3. Genghis Kahn
4. Mao Tse Tung
5. Stalin
Special mention for unintentional destruction to Thomas Midgley Jr. who put Lead in petrol and later invented CFC’s for aerosols and refrigeration. Someone once remarked that he “had more impact on the atmosphere than any other single organism in Earth’s history.”
Good, good.
Now, N7 was a bit unfair of me because whoever someone wants to put in must have done more good than Jesus and had more world impact over that length of time. It’s going to be interesting, that one.
The sportsperson was obviously going to be problematic so I just threw in the first person to get a perfect score.
Rest of them – no real argument.
I would simply want a dentist,doctor,maid, cook, 2 lawyers[as I would not trust 1st one and would need secondary advice]a hot rent boy , a dog and someone to steer[?] the spacecraft.
And you, James.
I wouldn’t be able to populate the craft on that basis. I would have to man the craft with the 12 people who had the skills to survive into the future. Then over time those fields would recreate themselves.
My gut reaction would be to say no-one destructive. On reflection I think that element is necessary to bring about creativity and balance.
I didn’t explain well – they’re not actually on board, ladies, only their work.
Well that would take me some time and some categories to me are irrelavent, but I will give it some consideration
Lit person – Burns
Musician – Chopin
Artist – Renoir
Film figure – Tornatore
Sportsperson – no one
Adventurer – Scott
Philanthropist – Schweitzer [I'm not suggesting he did more good than Christ or anything. He just came to mind, like you said.]
Inventor – whoever invents a fully automatic iron
Scientist – Marie Curie
World leader – Mandela
Philosopher – de Beauvoir [yes, she was!]
All rounder – Jacob Bronowski
I like this game, Jamesie!
Forgot – most destructive people but I I am thick or something – are they on board?
1. Hitler
2. That w***** who was Bush’s defence secretary – Rumsfeld, that’s him.
3. Stalin
4. Thatcher [that'll make me popular over here!]
5. Whoever sparked those riots off in Rosarno [and it wasn't one of the immigrants].
Hmmm ok I’ll do this- though I reserve the right to change my mind tommorrow!
I’m with Cherry Pie though some categories are irrelevant to me (or as in the case of sportsmen and women I think it would be a bit dull to spend eternity with them- imagine eternity with Geoffrey Boycott!)- but here is a list that I think would make for good conversation
1. Jane Austen
2. John Milton
3. Ingmar Bergman
4. Adam Smith
5. Frederick Maitland
6. Niels Bohr
7. Cornelius Tacitus
8. John Locke
9. Edward Gibbon
10. Mme de Pompadour
11. David Hume
12. John Selden
I wouldn’t agree with all of them- but I would love to have met any of them.
There are lots of candidates for the five worst people in history- Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Mao and Lenin all have the distinction of being directly responsible for over a million deaths so they’d be a good five- but there are many many more.
5. Whoever sparked those riots off in Rosarno [and it wasn't one of the immigrants].
Thanks for those – always interesting to see other people’s choices. The one quoted here – the answer, Welshcakes, is agents provocateur of Them, as with much of the Al Qaeda stuff.
Hmmm…. I can think of a few people who I’d want to be strapped to the outside of the ship…
Mo
It shows a lot that we have so many contenders for worse person but so few for best person. All the worst will be known in 2000 years if we are still around and I would guess they would have another 20 they think should be added whilst the best person catagory will still be struggling to get 5.
1) C Dickens
Thomas Newcomen
2) G F Handel
3) Holbein or Klimt
4) David Lean or Mike Leigh
5) Seat left vacant for someone more useful
6) Wilfred Thesiger
7) Florence Nightingale
9) Alan Turing
10) Seat left vacant for someone more useful
11) Seat left vacant for someone more useful
12) We say polymath in England, and there have been far too many English polymaths to pick one
Bloody smilies!
1. Literary figure: Shakespeare (natch)
2. Musical figure: Johann Sebastian Bach
3. Artist: Rembrandt
4. Film figure: Hitchcock
5. Sportsperson: Individual: Jack Nicklaus Team Player: Don Bradman
6. Adventurer/explorer: The Polynesian navigators
7. Philanthropist/medico: Pasteur
8. Inventor/theorist: Darwin
9. Scientist/mathematician: Sir Isaac Newton
10. World leader [not evil]: Winston Churchill
11. Philosopher: Hume
12. All rounder: Sir Richard Hadlee.
1. Literary figure: Shakespeare
2. Musical figure: Beethoven
3. Artist: “Mother Nature”
4. Film figures: Tom and Jerry (need both)
5. Sportsperson: Jack Nicklaus
6. Adventurer/explorer: Magellan
7. Philanthropist/medico: Bill Gates will be (if size matters)
8. Inventor/theorist: Turing
9. Scientist/mathematician: Einstein
10. World leader [not evil]: Gandhi
11. Philosopher: Isaac Newton (of the Natural Philosophy variety,)
12. All rounder: Ian Botham (or did you not mean cricket?)
Most destructive:
1. God (the concept of)
2. Allah (the concept of)
3. Stalin
4. Hitler
5. Pol Pot
OK I managed to pick one for each category (in most cases) from my shortlist eventually
1. Literary figure: Shakespeare
2. Musical figure: Grieg
3. Artist: Canalleto
4. Film figures: Cubby Broccoli
5. Sportsperson: N/A to me I am not into sports at all
6. Adventurer/explorer: Sir Francis Drake
7. Philanthropist/medico: Richard Branson
8. Inventor/theorist: Da Vinci
9. Scientist/mathematician: Charles Babbage
10. World leader [not evil]: Churchill (also the Duke of Wellington)
11. Philosopher: I can’t possibly choose one, I find them all interesting.
12. All rounder: Churchill (sorry a duplicate)
Most destructive:
1. Hitler
2. Stalin
3. Napoleon
4. Atilla the Hun
5. Henry VIII
It was difficult to pick the 5 most destructive, there are lots on my list…