• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Who is the most famous person in human history?

Status
Not open for further replies.
D

danm999

Member
Herr Schwarz said:
Ok sorry I brainfarted a bit there. There was once a regular bloke called Jesus who was preaching some new ideas and got crucified for it. The rest of the details being spotty.

Obviously there's a big difference between actual Jesus and Astral Jesus who is clearly the more famous of the two.

Anyway back to OP, my vote is for Ronald McDonald.
Click to expand...

I mean Tacitus, a Roman pagan historian talks about Christus and his execution by Pontus Pilate. You can be an atheist, accept Christ was a real historical figure but not divine. I certainly do.
 
D

Dre3001

Member
I always thought it was widely known that Jesus was a real person who lived.

From what I have seen most of the historical debates regarding religion seemed to be whether or not he did everything that the Bible says.
 
G

gfxtwin

Member
In terms of sheer influence and number of people who knew them throughout time, it's got to come down to Jesus, Mohammed and Buddha, right?
 
T

The Artisan

Member
Lactose_Intolerant said:
Michael Jackson

Even tribes in the Amazon know who he is.
Click to expand...

image.php
 
M

Mumei

Member
I think there's a certain level (Jesus, Buddha, Muhammad, Shakespeare, Genghis Khan, Lincoln, Hitler, etc.) where having at least heard of (and this is what we mean by "fame," yes?) the figure in question is so ubiquitous that it feels like hair-splitting to say one is more famous than the other.
 
P

PatThePassive

Member
Hitler? The last great war will probably remain a major point in history and we will probably not see ground combat at that scale again between states.

And the Genocidal and often described as charismatic leader of the losing side will probably always be famous.
 
H

Heshinsi

"playing" dumb? unpossible
Wouldn't the most famous person be of the modern time due to population increase. I mean we didn't even hit 1B people until a littler over 100 years ago. So a famous person today would be known by over a billion people. Gangnam Style has over 2.5B views. That's more than everyone who ever lived just a few hundred years ago lol.
 
C

Cocaloch

Member
Mumei said:
I think there's a certain level (Jesus, Buddha, Muhammad, Shakespeare, Genghis Khan, Lincoln, Hitler, etc.) where having at least heard of (and this is what we mean by "fame," yes?) the figure in question is so ubiquitous that it feels like hair-splitting to say one is more famous than the other.
Click to expand...

I mean you can distinguish even within that group. I know for a fact some university students at a pretty respectable American institution don't know who Lincoln is. I imagine it's much worse elsewhere. Yet I have a feeling every single student at that university knows who Jesus is. Especially since a number of those have much heavier national/cultural associations.
 
O

Obliterator

Member
Heshinsi said:
Wouldn't the most famous person be of the modern time due to population increase. I mean we didn't even hit 1B people until a littler over 100 years ago. So a famous person today would be known by over a billion people. Gangnam Style has over 2.5B views. That's more than everyone who ever lived just a few hundred years ago lol.
Click to expand...

And yet more people are aware of Jesus now than at any point in history. Same for Muhammad.

Christianity and Islam aren't dying off as the population increases.
 
W

wandering

Banned
Cocaloch said:
I mean you can distinguish even within that group. I know for a fact some university students at a pretty respectable American institution don't know who Lincoln is. I imagine it's much worse elsewhere. Yet I have a feeling every single student at that university knows who Jesus is. Especially since a number of those have much heavier national/cultural associations.
Click to expand...

wait













what
 
A

Acorn

Member
This thread has taught me a surprising amount of people don't think Jesus or Muhammad existed.

Historians are generally as sure as you can be about people from thousands of years ago existing. Whether you believe everything religious scriptures says or not is a different matter.
 
K

Kinokou

Member
Abounder said:
Like Louis CK says, we are in the year of Jesus + 2017 years. No one else comes close
Click to expand...

Good point. Anyone who learns English should know that bc. Is before Christ?


Then outside of regular education there's all them missionaries scouring every corner of the globe to make sure Jesus is known to all.
 
A

Acorn

Member
Kinokou said:
Good point. Anyone who learns English should know that bc. Is before Christ?


Then outside of regular education there's all them missionaries scouring every corner of the globe to make sure Jesus is known to all.
Click to expand...
Some places try to use bce(before common era). Dunno what they do for AD? CE?
 
O

Oersted

Member
RedSwirl said:
Jesus. It's not even close, not even if you count the entire world including the East.

On Hitler, how relevant was WWII in the Eastern world? Do Chinese and Indians and Southeast Asians care that much about it aside from what involved Japan? Maybe most educated people in the East are still aware of what happened in Europe, but it's probably not studied like it is in the West. With Jesus on the other hand, there are plenty of Christians in the Eastern world, and any Muslim who has read the Quran is aware of Jesus.
Click to expand...

I know a truckload of people who don't really know anything about WWII or Nazis, but all of them heard of Hitler. Sort of similiar with Tom Cruise. Everyone knows him, but barely anyone outside US/Canada and parts of Europe knows about his Scientology sheanigans.

Vault Dweller 111 said:
Just to add a new wrinkle, most famous living person?

Obama I guess?
MJ?
Trump?!
Click to expand...

Cruise, than Bieber, current President and Rihanna.
 
C

C4Lukins

Junior Member
1. Jesus
2. Hitler
3. Muhammad
4. Osama Bin Laden
5. The Beatles(not a singular person)

6. Trump, JFK, Obama, GWB, Roosevelt 2, Churchill. Not the most important but in modern history I think everyone on the planet is at least familiar. You could add Stalin and Putin in there.
 
P

PnCIa

Member
Lol@people posting fictional characters.

Also, Hitler could be a good answer but then again he is so dominant in our western pov, maybe some tyrant from asia that we have no idea about is known by more people than Hitler.
 
CD'S BAR

CD'S BAR

Member
if you're talking about all of human history i'm not sure you can count figures that have been around only for a century, give or take, like Hitler. longevity has to count for something, unless you mean the most recognized name on earth today...in any case it's probably jesus.
 
R

rekameohs

Banned
Laughing Banana said:
People arguing that Jesus is not a real person while a great majority of people who studied him for a living, historians and the like, are in consensus that he did in fact exist puzzled me.

Like, why? Is it because it is offensive to your no-religion! rules of life to acknowledge his existence, even if it's only purely academical?

So weird and petty.
Click to expand...
Yeah, it's pretty pathetic. Reminds me of the "I am euphoric" guy on Reddit.
 
Cindi Mayweather

Cindi Mayweather

Member
Morrigan Stark said:
Agreed, though I'd probably vote Caesar over Hitler. Then again, I dunno, Caesar isn't really a meme...


Nah, Jesus' own existence isn't really confirmed either.
Click to expand...

No serious historian doubts Jesus' existence. There's more evidence Jesus existed than many famous people say were real with no hesitation. Many arguments made against the existence of Jesus, such as the fact that no one wrote about him until after his death is ludicrous as this was common during the antiquity. Heck, writings on Jesus were made within the very century he died and even catalogued by Jewish and Roman historian sources, who had absolutely zero reason to make his existence known if he weren't to have exist given that Christian's during this period were seen as a black sheep and crazy religion between both camps. Yet they still recorded Jesus in their history books anyways as having been executed by Pontius Pilate.
 
C

C4Lukins

Junior Member
OG Shaka Zulu said:
Do Muslims believe Jesus was white like Christians do?
Click to expand...

No Jesus was apparently a Jew, which at the time would mean he had similar skin color to your stereotypical Muslim. And even Mel Gibson who amazingly created the most iconic modern version of Jesus chose an actor who was not super white to play Christ. James Caviezel could pass for the majority of ethnicities.
 
C

CloudWolf

Member
Herr Schwarz said:
Jesus and Muhammed were actually real people? I thought they were characters in the bible, not actually real people.

If this was most famous literary works Bible etc.

It's like someone giving Batman as an answer.
Click to expand...

Mohammed existed 100%, that's not even up for debate. Jesus is highly likely to have existed, there are official Roman documents talking about Jesus. What he did according to the Bible and Quran isn't real, but the guy existed and that's all that counts.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

  • Poll
Et tu, Brute?
Poll 2
51
3K
TrueLegend replied
Historical Figures In Movies (Idea)
15
728
SirKicksalot replied
Ancient Roman figures brought to life via AI
Science 2 3
100
6K
Dirk Benedict replied
A 13-year-old is the first human to beat Tetris
48
4K
Ikutachi replied
PSA: I would take internet Popups of the early 2000s than the Ads today. It's going to get worst
10
867
Victor Omega replied
Top Bottom