NationStates Jolt Archive

I wanted to ask this question, but I know it's been done before, so I thought I'd throw a twist into the mix.

Who is the greatest human who ever lived?**

**And the twist is...you may treat all fictional characters as though they were factual, "real, or historical. (However you have to word it.)

Oh, but no aliens, spirits/ghosts, sentient non-humans, or animals.

HUMANS! :p

EDIT: OH! I forgot my nominee...






LINKY (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joshua_Lawrence_Chamberlain)

Hmm, that's a tough one. Beethoven might be close since he not only composed some of the greatest music ever heard but composed much of it while deaf. Emma Goldman was also pretty cool, but both are rather lacking in various ways outside their respective fields. I'd say the greatest person who ever lived is the protagonist from my novel, who teaches humanity to break free from the Megamachine and embracing the uncertaintly of life rather than submitting to Machine.

I'd say the greatest person who ever lived is the protagonist from my novel, who teaches humanity to break free from the Megamachine and embracing the uncertaintly of life rather than submitting to Machine.

Matrix knockoff. :p

Seriously though, the greatest person who ever lived? The lead character from my science-fiction fantasy, "Arin Phoenix" ('tis an assumed name). He came from an extremely advanced society that could harness the power of its home stellar system, having built generators around the massive central star to power the home planet and the colonised planets.

Something goes terribly wrong with the power matrix, and a fluctuation occurs that creates a chain reaction in the sun and the ring reactor surrounding it, resulting in a supernova that destroys everything in the system, save for the outer colonies. The energy generated by the explosion combined with the mass of the star was sufficient to create a black hole, which sucked in the remaining planets and matter.

Phoenix, who was exploring a neighboring system, is alerted to what's happened by his ship's sensors. Having witnessed the supposed destruction of the outer planets, and with nothing to lose, he set a course for the black hole in hopes of finding any of the remaining colonies. However, things didn't go quite as planned, as he was transported to another dimension completely opposite of where the remaining planets were (or so he thought --- he and his ship were the exception; all other matter from the system was destroyed).

He ended up in a very primative system (at least, by his civilisation's standards), with technology literally thousands of years behind that of his home planet's (a hodge podge of Classical, Medieval, and Renaissance culture and technology). He landed his ship on the only populated planet, and he found a world in chaos. People were killing each other for reasons that seemed ridiculous to him (people fighting for land rights was extremely archaic on his home world, of course).

Knowing that the world could fall into complete disrepair in the current state of affairs, he made a decision. He became the planet's last hope for peace, and over the course of ten years, that peace was achieved. His brilliant planning and works allowed the people to live in peace and prosperity... Even still, he didn't see his works as that of brilliance or genius. He was just another man from a very distant place, where his logic, reasoning, and knowledge were commonplace amongst most humans.

Though even ten years had passed since his arrival in this "new" dimension, his physical status hadn't changed. He hadn't aged a day, even a second, since his trip through the black hole. So, he took a gamble, and set out in search of other planets and systems that needed his aid. He effectively became a god, a savior of all living things, even if he once was a mortal himself.


Heh, maybe I should make a book out of this...

Paddington Bear.

Matrix knockoff. :p

I was going to say Ayn Rand myself... however like all dystopian novels it seems we can trace this scenario back to the Garden of Eden, via Brave New World and 1984. 'tis an old story, to be sure.

Bender

I know he's a robot, but he's still my choice.

http://www.sf-radio.net/futurama/bilder/bender.gif

Paddington Bear.

Not human!

*gong!*

Paddington Bear.
'Nuff said.

Erm...greatest human ever? But there's been so many! I'll go with the dude that invented beer.

Not human!

*gong!*

He's twice the man you'll ever be. :p

However, I am shocked that I made that mistake. Sleep, that's what I need.

Human...hmm...I say: Hercule Poirot.

Paddington Bear.

In the original version of the book Paddington came from 'darkest Africa', but this was deemed racially dubious, and so the phrase 'darkest Peru' was used instead. FACT!

Obviously Batman.

Well this guy isn't the greatest, but he's gotta be one of the greatest unknowns...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Chandos

He was basically the right hand man of Edward The Black Prince (father of Richard II - of Peasants Revolt fame)

What wikipedia doesn't mention is that he was about 70 when he died, making those later feats all the more impressive.

Well,

I guess its time to fish for neo nazis (http://www.fla-keys.com/fishing/graphics/deepseafishing.jpg).

I don't really know, but I think this guy would be pretty high on the list:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislav_Petrov

Wow, that post took me 27 minutes to write. Oh well, that's what happens when I come up with stuff on the fly.

Wow, that post took me 27 minutes to write. Oh well, that's what happens when I come up with stuff on the fly.


and the gutting thing is, when they're that long no-one reads em :)

and the gutting thing is, when they're that long no-one reads em :)

Yeah, I suppose. But then, people not reading my stories on forums never really bothered me, because I know they're good, and I put a lot of thought into them... Hence the near-thirty minutes it took to write just a few paragraphs.

V from V for Vendetta.

Brock Samson

http://passivedigressive.com/images/2005mar/brock_samson.jpg

tyrone biggums

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b395/joseman6666/102_3.jpg

Satan.

Greatest revolutionary ever. Makes Che Guevara look like an angsty teenager. Only person to really ever stick it to 'the man', and the biggest 'man' of all, at that.

Father of all desirable things, acolyte of all things 'humane'.

Head of the greatest 'La resistance' in the history of time (or possibly before).

Greatest fictional character ever. Followed closely by God as the greatest fictional overlord/oppressor (as opposed to revolutionary).

Greatest real person would have to be.... Mehmed II Emperor of the Ottoman Empire from 1444-1446, and again from 1451-1481. While he was a great emperor, (take a look-see for youselff: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mehmed_II) this is not why he was the greatest human ever. He is the greatest human ever for his well executed conquering of Constaintinople, leading to the exodus of the cities' christian intelligentia to Venice, leading to a resurgence in Classical thinking and culture in Europe, leading to what we now call the Rennaissance, leading to the beautiful socio-political climate we live in in the west today.