The World's 65 (!) Greatest Beings(SUGGESTIONS REALLY NEEDED!!!)- Changed and updated!
The 35 Greatest Beings of the 20th Century:
- 1. Mahatma Gandhi (suggested by myself)
- 2. Albert Einstein (suggested by lukeprog and 5intheface)
- 3. Martin Luther King (suggested by lukeprog)
- 4. Walt Disney (suggested by lukeprog)
- 4. Henry Ford (suggested by lukeprog and 5intheface)
- 5. Mother Teresa (suggested by evildonut)
- 6. John Lennon (suggested by 5intheface)
- 7. Nelson Mandela (suggested by 5intheface)
- 8. Stephen Hawking (suggested by 5intheface)
- 9. Duke Ellington (suggested by 5intheface)
- 10. Miles Davis (suggested by 5intheface)
- 11. Elvis Presley (suggested by Wezzo)
- 12. Jimi Hendrix (suggested by Rushmore)
- 13. Lenny Bruce (suggested by marygabucan)
- 14. The Dalai Lama (suggested by marygabucan)
- 15. Margaret Sanger (suggested by marygabucan)
- 16. Orson Welles (suggsted by marygabucan)
- 17. Winston Churchill (suggested by marygabucan)
- 18. Frank Sinatra (suggested by marygabucan)
- 19. John Wayne (suggested by marygabucan)
- 20. Joe Strummer (suggested by marygabucan)
- 21. Corazon Aquino (suggested by marygabucan)
- 22. Franklin Delano Roosevelt (suggested by marygabucan)
- 23. Kim Dae Jung (suggested by marygabucan)
- 24. The Students of Tienamen Square (suggested by marygabucan)
- 25. Haile Selassie I(suggested by marygabucan)
- 26. Albert Schweitzer (suggested by marygabucan)
- 27. Hunter S. Thompson (suggested by marygabucan)
- 28. Lech Walesa (suggested by marygabucan)
- 29. Woody Guthrie (suggested by Imposter)
- 30. Muhammed Ali (suggested by Imposter)
- 31. Jackie Robinson (suggested by Imposter)
- 32. T.E. Lawrence (suggested by Imposter)
- 33. Andy Warhol (suggested by pherber)
- 34. Sigmund Freud (suggested by myself)
The 30 Greatest Beings of the Pre-20th Century history:
- 1. Benjamin Franklin (suggested by pivvclam)
- 2. Jesus (suggested by RosieCotton)
- 3. Socrates (suggested by AJDaGreat)
- 4. Plato (suggested by AJDaGreat)
- 5. Aristotle (suggested by AJDaGreat)
- 6. William Shakespeare (suggested by AJDaGreat)
- 7. Leonardo Da Vinci (suggested by AJDaGreat)
- 8. King Henry IV (suggested by AJDaGreat)
- 9. Isaac Newton (suggested by AJDaGreat)
- 10. Alexander the Great (suggested by grizham1)
- 11. Genghis Khan (suggsted by grizham 1)
- 12. Johann Sebastian Bach (suggested by grizham1 and 5intheface)
- 13. Ludwig van Beethoven (suggested by grizham1 and 5intheface)
- 14. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (suggested by 5intheface)
- 15. Napoleon I (suggested by grizham1)
- 16. Julius Caesar (suggested by grizham1)
- 17. Augustus (suggsted by grizham1)
- 18. Buddha (suggested by 5intheface)
- 19. God (suggested by Rushmore)
- 20. Queen Elizabeth I (suggested by grizham 1)
- 21. William Blake (suggested by Imposter)
- 22. Joan of Arc (suggested by Imposter)
- 23. Victor Hugo (suggested by Imposter)
- 24. Moses (suggested by Imposter)
- 25. Martin Luther (suggested by Imposter)
- 26. Florence Nightingale (suggested by Imposter)
- 27. Pythagoras (suggested by Imposter)
- 28. Thomas Paine (suggested by Imposter)
Idea: to make a list of the greatest people of world's history.
1. These can be artists (writers, poets, directors, actors, actresses, painters, musicians, singers, ...), politicians (kings, presidents, dukes, ...), ...
2. I've started with Mahatma Gandhi, because I think taht he is the greatest man, who has ever been on Earth.
3. SUGGESTIONS REALLY NEEDED!!!!!!!!!!!!
4. I have followed AJDaGreat's advice: I have split up this list in two subdivisions: the first one contains all the suggested beings that lived before the 20th Century and the second one those who lived in the 20th Century.
5. jim has had a great idea (see comments): I'll just take the first thirty-five suggestions for subdivision 1 and the first thirty for subdivision two. So, hurry up!
6. Another advice, by evildonut: As soon as the two subdivisions will be full, I'll make out of this two polls.
7. Thanks for the advices to:
jim
AJDaGreat
evildonut
I saw a documentary series this weekend on Benjamin Franklin. I would suggest him.
That's OK!
Jesus (the greatest)
hear! hear!
Thanks.
Thanks for your suggestions!
Thank you!
My selections from Time's 100 greatest people of the 1900s would be:
Albert Einstein
Martin Luther King
Walt Disney
Henry Ford
Disney is one of those who created our current culture of similitude. He is evil.
How about Mother Teresa?
Die. =)
Yes, I've put Mother Teresa into the list.
Thanks.
Even the BBC thinks Disney is evil. See this quoted paragraph from a recent article about amounts of news coverage of domestic vs. foreign disasters (Hurr. Charley in FL got much more coverage than flooding at the same time in Bangladesh):
"It [Bangladesh] may have an ancient culture dating back thousands of years and it may have the world's most glorious beach at Cox's Bazar, but it doesn't have Disneyworld. So when people see "breaking news" with warnings of titanic floods in Bangladesh, followed by live footage of the looming disaster, they don't think: "Oh no, I wonder if this will affect the beautiful 18th century Kantaji Temple in Dinajpur." But when they see storm warnings about Florida, they worry about a theme park built on a swamp by a rightwing weirdo."
A few suggestions:
Socrates and / or Plato and / or Aristotle
William Shakespeare
Leonardo Da Vinci
King Henry IV
Isaac Newton
OK!
Would these great people also contain 'evil' people btw?
-Alexander the Greatboggles the mind
-Genghis Khan (ditto)
-Bach
-Beethoven
-Napoleon
-Queen Elizabeth I
-Cesar's -Julius /Augustus as well.
YEAH!!!
John Lennon
Albert Einstien
Nelson Mandela
Henery Ford
Steven Hawking
Budda (or Guetama, which I think I misspelled)
Mozart
Bach Beethoven
Duke Ellington
Miles Davis
That's great, but who's Guetama? Do you mean Che Guevara?
God
Yes, why not.
I'm not trying to be flip, but how 'bout because the title of the list is "greatest people"?
Any suggestions for another title? ;-)
:-) "Greatest Beings"?
Yes, that'd be a good title.
Have you got any suggestions for this list???
Too many to list! The trick in creating such a list is not in populating it, but in pruning it. If you make it like "The 50 greatest" then it gets more interesting, because then you only have room for a few conquerers, painters, leaders, composers, inventors, etc.
Yes, that's a good idea. I'll think about that.
God is a person, but not "people", because he's not human.
You're right, but I think I'll let Him in the list. ;-)
Elvis Presley. Not the most clever person, no, but probably the biggest idol of the 20th Century, and brought new meaning to celebrity.
OK!
Jimi Hendrix
for music fans he is a God, he has to make the list
All right!
He should be a "god" with a little "g". There is only one God, big "G", by definition. You can have as many little "g" gods as you like, if you're a pagan.
I suggest:
The Dali Llama
Margert Sanger
Orson Welles
winston Chruchill
Frank Sinatra
John Wayne
Joe Strummer
Corazon Aquino
FDR
Kim Dae Jung
The Students of Tienamen square
Halle Salassie
Albert Schweitzer
Hunter S thompson
Lech Walesa
I almost forgot Lenny Bruce.
Thanks for the LONG list. ;-)
This is a really weird list. Jesus alongside Joe Strummer, Socrates right near Walt Disney. I think the idea is a good one, but somewhere along the line, it has become WAY too 20th-century-focused. The vast, VAST majority of these people are from the 20th century. And hey, that's what we're most familiar with, and a "Greatest Beings of the 20th Century" list might be interesting, so you could change it if you like. But as for the 50 Greatest Beings of All-Time, I really don't think it should include Walt Disney, Duke Ellington, Lenny Bruce, etc. etc. etc., though these people may have had considerable influence on 20th-century art.
That's a good idea. I'll think about that.
I think you should remove Margaret Sanger. What did she accomplish?
I am just the person who adds the people you suggest to the list. I don't remove them. What do you think of AJDaGreat's idea of just putting the 50 greatest people of the 20th century onto this list?
Yes, that would be better.
OK, I have split the list into two subdivisions.
you left boggles next to alexander the great btw =), which was my fault, b/c I think he's the greatest human being to ever lived based on his accomplishments and based on when he lived etc., it boggles the mind that one man so young could conquer so much land so fast and make the world greek, f**king amazing really.
Now for the Evil Greatest Beings that have ever lived
-Adolf Hitler (of course)
-Joseph Stalin
Concerning your Evil Greatest Beings you forgot:
Heinrich Himmler
Joseph Goebbels
And Margaret Sanger.
Maybe this would be better as a poll?
Yes, as soon as this list is full (50 suggestions!!!), one could make out of this a poll. Why not?
20th century suggestions - Muhammad Ali, Woody Guthrie, Jackie Robinson
Pre-20th century folks - William Blake, Joan of Arc, Moses, Victor Hugo, Martin Luther, T.E. Lawrence, Florence Nightingale, Pythagoras, Thomas Paine
Thanks for your suggestions.
N.B.: I have added T.E. Lawrence to the 20th century, because he had most (if not all) of his great achievements in the 20th century.
Interesting that you classify God as a pre-twentieth century being. I take it that the numbers do not indicate a ranking of greatness.
Do you know that one of the arguments for the existence of God is premissed on the concept of God's greatness? It goes something like this: Our concept of God is of the greatest being conceivable. If God did not exist outside of our concept of Him, our concept of Him would not be of the greatest being conceivable. Therefore God does exist outside of our concept of Him.
What do you think of this argument?
That's an interesting argument I have never heard before.
Nietzsche's madman pronounced TOD in 1882. They say that God didn't look a day over an aeon.
On the other hand, Thomas Aquinas, I think it was, in the 13th century, pronounced God 'eternal', by which he meant God is outside of time - time existing only as part of the created world.
A while back the beeb had a "World's Greatest Briton" promotion. Here's their list of the Top 100. I voted for Mary Wollstonecraft.
As important and as influential as Walt Disney was, it's quite true he wasn't a 'great' man in other ways, so I nominate that he be removed from the list (though I originally nominated he be added! Sorry!).
Andy Warhol.