Impact Players

Sorry for the dry spell. I’ve been up to my eyeballs in C programming language.

John Hawkins invited me and many other bloggers to submit our choices for “world impact players,” that is those who have had the greatest effect on the world we find ourselves living in today. Be advised that he did *not* ask who was the most admired, but who had contributed ideas, actions and inventions that played the greatest part in changing the world around them and the world that came after (will come after) their departure.

I submitted these twenty in alphabetical order (communication is the top factor):

• Alexander Graham Bell
• Winston Churchill
• Albert Einstein
• Henry Ford
• William Gates
• Adolph Hitler
• Johannes Gutenberg
• Jesus the Christ
• Martin Luther King
• Osama bin Laden
• Abraham Lincoln
• Martin Luther
• Karl Marx
• Muhammad
• St. Paul
• Ronald W. Reagan
• Margaret Sanger
• William Shakespeare
• Josef Stalin
• Orville and Wilbur Wright

Here are some of my others that didn’t make the cut:

• Abraham
• Yasser Arafat
• Neil Armstrong
• Tony Blair
• Napoleon Bonaparte
• George W. Bush
• George Washington Carver
• Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain)
• Marie Curie
• Yuri Gagarin
• Mahatma Ghandi
• Mikhail Gorbachev
• Grace Hopper
• Andrew Jackson
• King James I of England (VI of Scotland)
• C.S. Lewis
• John Locke
• Mao Tse-Tung
• Thurgood Marshall
• J. Robert Oppenheimer
• Rosa Parks
• Ayn Rand
• Jackie Robinson
• Franklin D. Roosevelt
• Mother Teresa

And here are a few of those whom I predict will have a large impact on the future:

• Iyad Allawi
• Hillary Rodham Clinton
• Harold Ford, Jr.

Comments

[Jack]

Interesting lists. I would have included Enrico Fermi instead of Albert Einstein, but that's because I'm a Physicist, so I'm more aware of his contributions (which were more than Einstein's in the fields of quantum mechanics and nuclear physics) and the large technological and socialogical impact they had and still have.

[Carridine]

Just yesterday I wrote an essay on the Top 20 technological advances in human history, so I'm eager to suggest Jack Kirby (Integrated Circuits) or Thomas Edison (lightbulb, motion pix, hundreds more) or SFB Morse (telegraph), but for sheer impact on the course of human affairs, not just technology and social structures, its the One Promised BY Jesus; the Glory of God, Baha'u'llah.

[Al Barger]

Outstanding list. I would tend to de-emphasize political figures and re-emphasize artistic ones.

Ayn Rand should definitely be elevated into the upper list, perhaps at the expense of UBL who will soon be swept into the ashbin of history.

I would also be looking to add some musicians, though I don't know how you'd compare Beethoven to Bill Gates or Miles Davis to Mao Tse-Tung.

[StinKerr]

I too was wondering how you missed Edison. You can do pennance at Greenfield Village. ;-)

Then there's Tim Berners-Lee who invented the very process the we are now using to communicate our ideas: The Internet.

Of course, it's easy for me and others to carp and point out omissions, I didn't make a list and don't have to defend it. Interesting selection though.

[syn]

Hillary will lead the future of America down the Marxist path. In it, Americans will die in droves because we fell for her idea that Univeral Health Care (socialized medicine) is a great idea, Americans will have no ability to defend ourselves because guns will be banned and Americans will be dumbed so far downward that her Socialist comrades can steal the people's money in order to enrich her comrades lives.

In Hillary's world, her comrades will appear poor on the outside but will be filthy rich behind closes doors. We already can see this behavior in Teresa, her husband, Edwards, Kennedy, Moore and so forth.

The future of Hillary's America.

[syn]

Correction "closed" doors.

[baldilocks]

Syn: That would certain have an impact

[wolf]

I realize history isn't as important as it once was and that is obviously reflected in your choices as to those making the cut. Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Mohamed, Buddah, Zoroaster should be at the top because all views of the relationship between mankind and God eminate from these people. All conflicts about the messianic messages and whose is the right one arise from these, too.
Aristotle, Plato, Socrates, set forth the foundations of western civilization that still impact eastern civilization.
Maimonidies, Aquinas, Newton laid down foundations that all subsequent philosophers, scientists and inventors based themselves on.
All the rest of the big names are mere commentaries.

[Rustmeister]

I don't know about Harlod Ford, Jr. I mean, Junior's (as we call him here) pretty good, but the rest of the Ford family in Tennessee politics can really be exploited by detractors. Them folks are crazy.

After last night, I'd put more money on Obama, anyway.

[baldilocks]

wolf: Words are nice, hence the addition of W. Shakespeare and Mark Twain. But it's what one does with them that count.

All the missives of the Great philosophers both you and I have mentioned would have little impact, were it not for the Gutenbergs, Bells, Edisons (oops) and Gateses of this world. How can one implement the ideas of the great philosophers if one never reads them?

Rustmeister: I think you're right about Obama. Ford suffers, however, because of his youth. He's got time.

[TL]

Not one Roman or Founding Father of the U.S.? Without Sulla the world would not have known what a dictator is. Without Julius and Augustus Caesar we would not have known why dictators are to be repelled, even when they are more capable and probably know better than the rest of us.

Thomas Jefferson & Co. gave us what we have today, and set up the basis for the strongest, freest nation the world has ever known.

And how do Magellan, Newton and DaVinci not make the cut?

[Laurence Simon]

Shakespeare?

Bell invented the telephone at the same time as another inventor... even with follow-up innovations, not quote a major solo player IMNSHO.

[baldilocks]

Laurence: Think about how much the text of WS's plays have influenced the English language.

Who's the other telephone inventor?

[David D]

A guy named Elisha Gray filed a Patent Office caveat a few hours after Bell filed, saying he would have a telephone in 3 months based on his patents from 1874 (Britain) and 1875 (US).

Many others also felt they invented the phone (Daniel Drawbaugh). Over 600 suits were filed, but in the end a divided Supreme Court awarded the patent to Bell.

I'd nominate Edison in his place, for his biggest invention - the modern research lab, doing research in an organized manner.

[Allegra]

It's an excellent list, but I might have chosen Gutenberg over Bell...well, no...I guess not. Benjamin Franklin, I think I would have chosen, not so much for the man, himself, but as a representative of the trinity of Jefferson/Adams/Franklin. But I would have added one crucial woman to the list, that it seems no one thought of - Mary the Virgin, who by saying 'YES' brought into the world the Christ.

[Kevin Ross]

i recently stumbled onto your blog and I will be adding it to my regular reads. I made a list of my own and provide a link back to yours as one of the inspirations. Thanks...and great blog!

[triticale]

How about Rachel Carson, for keeping malaria active in Africa?

[John Lance]

If you are currently using AC electricity (which most of you reading this are), better stick Nicoli Tesla somewhere on that list. Thomas Edison just wished he was a tenth of the genius Tesla was.

I would also urge inclusion of Pope Urban II, creator and driving force behind the First Crusade. Definitely a 'world impact player'.

[Bleeding heart conservative]

We wouldn't have computers or the internet if it weren't for Max Planck.

[gracies]

No credit to the illustrious Al Gore for "inventing the internet"? hahaha
All kidding and sarcasm aside, this is a great site and if not for sites like these many people would stay ignorant and uninformed. From a "mixed family" (my mom...I hate Bush..Why? I just do!.) I could handle it if she at least had some kind of argument.
Best! Gracie