Who'll be remembered?

[Kirmit]

Who do you think from our time will be remembered in hundreds of years? We have people like Shakespeare, Plato, Hippocrates or King Tut who have been remembered for hundreds and even thousands of years but is there anyone from the now that'll be remembered in the future?

 

[webhead731]

Snookie.

 

[Anubis]

Paris Hilton

 

[Wesley Dodds]

Obama comes to mind... Neil Armstrong... Folks like that, the guys who've already guaranteed themselves places in human history no matter what.

 

[Rocketman]

Stephen Hawking
J.K. Rowling
Michael Jackson
Stephen King
Barack Obama
George W. Bush

 

[SuperFerret]

Short term - More people than you can imagine due to our level of technology.

Long term - Far less people than you would expect.


Neil Armstrong might be the only one listed that will, given that he's credited with doing something that is important to the whole of humanity. Someone like Barack Obama, who is only historically important to the United States of America, likely won't be remembered in the long run.

 

[E-Man]

Michael ****ing Jordan

 

[Manic]

Snookie.

Paris Hilton

Quick, name a famous heiress, debutant, or socialite from the 19th century. How about one from 1912? Come on, that last one is only 100 years ago.


Trust me, Paris Hilton and Snookie will be completely forgotten in one or two decades. They won't even be footnotes in the pages of history.

 

[Figs]

Maybe Donald Trump...hell, I don't know.

 

[redhawk23]

I imagine the Bill Gates will be remembered to some degree for a fairly long time. It will be very interesting to see what is done with his estate.

 

[roach]

I think in the future people will look at our movies in the same way we look at Greek Mythology

 

[redhawk23]

Short term - More people than you can imagine due to our level of technology.

Long term - Far less people than you would expect.


Neil Armstrong might be the only one listed that will, given that he's credited with doing something that is important to the whole of humanity. Someone like Barack Obama, who is only historically important to the United States of America, likely won't be remembered in the long run.

Depends on how you define the long run. I mean its very possible the United States might still exist in 300 years.

Furthermore history remembers quite a few kings/generals/political leaders most often its because they lead conquering forces or whatever but not always.


Hopefully we can figure out better ways of preserving newer types of art such as film, many of which are already lost, or are heading that way.

 

[SuperFerret]

300 years = Short term when we're talking Socrates and Plato, and Obama hasn't done anything worth historical recognition aside from being the first black president.

 

[redhawk23]

I think in the future people will look at our movies in the same way we look at Greek Mythology

Films are more akin to literature than anything else, especially since they are often rooted or adapted from literature.




Something I've been thinking about a lot is all of our stuff.

We find a variety of artifacts from past civilizations all over the world but the world population didn't even hit 1 billion people 1800 or so, not that long ago really. Now we have 7 billion people with a decent chunk of it making and throwing away more stuff than ever. Its kind of mind boggling how many artifacts we are leaving behind.

 

[Kirmit]

I just thought of one I think will still be remembered in thousands of years that no one has mentioned, Einstein.

 

[SuperFerret]

That's assuming that stuff will survive to become artifacts.

 

[redhawk23]

300 years = Short term when we're talking Socrates and Plato, and Obama hasn't done anything worth historical recognition aside from being the first black president.

Again I was asking the time scale. Because even Shakespear isn't as long term as Plato.

 

[redhawk23]

That's assuming that stuff will survive to become artifacts.

considering how stable some our plastics are, not to mention the things we make out aluminum and copper and silicon, we're leaving behind a hell of a lot more than pottery shards. Not to mention all of our space junk.

 

[SuperFerret]

Again I was asking the time scale. Because even Shakespear isn't as long term as Plato.

True, but we still know little about Shakespeare aside from his writings. Obama will be remembered by the history books as long as the United States is, as the rulers of Shakespeare's time are. Hell, we only "remember" Tutankhamen because we found his tomb. Even the most powerful of people can be forgotten over time.

considering how stable some our plastics are, not to mention the things we make out aluminum and copper and silicon, we're leaving behind a hell of a lot more than pottery shards. Not to mention all of our space junk.

We really don't consider things from Shakespeare's time to be artifacts. It takes a very, very long time for something to become an artifact. There's really no telling how long anything will last.

 

[redhawk23]

I just thought of one I think will still be remembered in thousands of years that no one has mentioned, Einstein.

I can see that, yes. I think most of us have been thinking more current, but considering he lived well with living memory I think he should certainly still count as "our time"

On that note, Crick and Watson, who discovered the structure of DNA (though I'd wager Rosalind Franklin will continue to be forgotten).

The fact that we mention Armstrong but not Yuri Gagarin shows most of our American bias.

 

[WolfCypher]

Steve Jobs?

Besides some other potentials already mentioned (Obama) I got nothing.

Now, if you want to talked figures who will be remembered in the same sense as Hitler? Then we've got Saddam, Bin Laden, Kim Jong Il...again, remembered and hated. They've guaranteed themselves a place both in History and Hell.

 

[redhawk23]

True, but we still know little about Shakespeare aside from his writings. Obama will be remembered by the history books as long as the United States is, as the rulers of Shakespeare's time are. Hell, we only "remember" Tutankhamen because we found his tomb. Even the most powerful of people can be forgotten over time.



We really don't consider things from Shakespeare's time to be artifacts. It takes a very, very long time for something to become an artifact. There's really no telling how long anything will last.

Maybe you don't but anthropologists and historians who spend their careers studying that time in history do. An artifact is simply any object that is made use of by a person. So even the chicken bones you throw out are artifacts. They may not be all that useful, but they are still artifacts. And who knows, someone may want to study modern diets from all the animal bones we throw out. Thats how we study many cultures many times, but looking at the bones and seeds near old hearths.

 

[Yurka]

Steve Jobs?

Besides some other potentials already mentioned (Obama) I got nothing.

Now, if you want to talked figures who will be remembered in the same sense as Hitler? Then we've got Saddam, Bin Laden, Kim Jong Il...again, remembered and hated. They've guaranteed themselves a place both in History and Hell.

Definitely agree. When I think "who will be remembered?", I think people who will be in history books for impacting the world, and Jobs will certainly be there.

Maybe even........Zuckerberg.

 

[Drizzle]

Paris Hilton

She's pretty much irrelevant already.

 

[Kirmit]

Definitely agree. When I think "who will be remembered?", I think people who will be in history books for impacting the world, and Jobs will certainly be there.

Maybe even........Zuckerberg.

I don't think so, I personally don't see facebook still being around in 20 years and in a few hundred years it'll be long forgotten along with its creator IMO.