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Who is the most famous person in human history?

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ccbfan

Member
lol the fact that Caesar is even mentioned shows how euro centric this forum is.

I can name at least 10 historical worlds leaders that's more known than Caesar.

As of now it's probably Michael Jackson. Having east and south asia know you is very important in this discussion.
 

HaloRose

Banned
lol the fact that Caesar is even mentioned shows how euro centric this forum is.

I can name at least 10 historical worlds leaders that's more known than Caesar.
.

It's funny when you asked someone about romans they said caesar they're better leaders or emperors then him.
 
I'd imagine a good chunk of people don't know that Walt Disney was a person before a company in America let alone worldwide. Mickey's popularity is debatable but I don't think he is that recognizable in newer generations.

Ah very true, I didn't think of that.

But since we're talking about newer generations, do you think kids today know about Jesus as much as previous generations?
 

mdubs

Banned
Hitler has only gone about 90 years with most people in the world knowing about him, so that's definitely less than the number of people who have known of Jesus historically.

Nah, Jesus' own existence isn't really confirmed either.
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PSqueak

Banned
Hitler has only gone about 90 years with most people in the world knowing about him, so that's definitely less than the number of people who have known of Jesus historically.

Tho we're assuming "most famous" among people alive today, no? that was my assumption, at least.
 
Are we including populations who have died in the number of humans who recognise a historical figure? Or are we talking "Who's the most famous human for people living right now"? If it's the former, then folks like Hitler, Elvis, or Walt are almost certainly out.

For my money I would say Mr. Alexander the Great. That guy, and his notoriety, got around!
 
Ah very true, I didn't think of that.

But since we're talking about newer generations, do you think kids today know about Jesus as much as previous generations?

Yes. Even in areas of the world where religions that reference him aren't as prominent as they once were, kids have heard of him.
 

HaloRose

Banned
Are we including populations who have died in the number of humans who recognise a historical figure? Or are we talking "Who's the most famous human for people living right now"? If it's the former, then folks like Hitler, Elvis, or Walt are almost certainly out.

For my money I would say Mr. Alexander the Great. That guy, and his notoriety, got around!

hannibal barca too :)
 

Soapbox Killer

Grand Nagus
It might be Micheal Jackson or even Trump. More people live on Earth now than in history combined( correct me if i'm wrong), couple that with the Internet making the world smaller and Billions of people know the name Donald Trump.
 

Cocaloch

Member
I guess another way to look at the question is should we allow somebody who may very well have not existed at all if enough people believe that person existed? Or should the line be there at all?

I mean at a certain point that is true all historical figures. This is a spectrum. You can draw a line, but because it is a spectrum it will ultimately be arbitrary.

It's possible that my perspective is just wrong. I don't know. There just seems to be a difference between somebody who we think we know a decent bit about their life, like Julius Caesar, and somebody like Jesus who we have sparse information on the man we believe is Jesus but little evidence that backs up a lot of what most people would say happened in his life.

What about people we know less about but are more sure they existed? That's the root of the issue. The conception of a person and the person themselves are not the same thing, and I don't believe there is a way out of that problem. We know very few of the things that happened in Ceaser's life, and much of what we do know is filtered through a variety of means.

The other problem this runs into is that it would work against all famous people, since something that comes along with fame is having things misattributed to you. Look at all the fake Einstein quotes for instance.

To pose a crude metaphor, in Iron Man 3 an actor played the role of the Mandarin. If 1,000 years later 35% of people in the world believed the fictional version of the character was actually the real person and scholars could only agree that the guy existed and a few other events while the majority of his life was hotly contested, how would he fit in the debate?

What does it mean to believe that the "fictional version was the real person". I assume you mean people accepting that the movie was a record of events that happened, which is the sticking point I doubt people would do that, and that the character he played was not a character being played by someone. Without knowing the alternative, i.e. people aware that the character itself was a fabrication, he would have to be taken seriously as a historical figure. That's the nature of our knowledge of the past.
 

mdubs

Banned
If you exclude religious figures and the Prime Minister, I bet in Canada it would be Tim Horton, but in an ethereal way where people don't really realize he was a real person and not a coffee shop
 

Crayolan

Member
Not seeing many mentions of Mao Zedong, though I doubt he can contend for *the* most famous, he's gotta be up there.

What is this Jesus ain't real stuff? He was real right, just not God?

Jesus was a real person. I guess a lot people assume he's just a symbol for god because they automatically dismiss religion. While we're at it, Buddha was a real person too.
 

Jumeira

Banned
Religious founders and they will continue to be as long as Humans continue to roam earth.

Contemporary terms, Michael Jackson, Hitler, Muhammad Ali, Lionel Messi
 

NewGame

Banned
How do you rank this, people who know the name? Because I'm sure a lot of people know about a guy called Jesus but I'm pretty sure very few actually read accounts of him.

Like another one I see mentioned a lot is Elvis, who I know by name but I'm pretty sure I've never heard any of his songs or know anything about him.
 
Not seeing many mentions of Mao Zedong, though I doubt he can contend for *the* most famous, he's gotta be up there.

Would Stalin not beat Mao?

As for sportsperson, I'd have to say Pelé, Maradona, Ronaldo, Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi. Boxing misses India. NBA misses most of the world.
 
Ghandi
Mao
Hitler
Genghis khan
Kublai khan
Stalin
MLK
Lenin
George Washington.
Muhammad

Probably a bunch of east and south Asian leaders I don't know about since my school only taught European and American history.

It's Gandhi.
And no way are Lenin, Kublai Khan or even MLK more well-known than the single most well-known Roman emperor. The others might be arguable.
 

Tyaren

Member
Sad to say this, but it is probably Hitler. The guy is literally everywhere and gets brought up all the time, even in instances where he really shouldn't. Also, the huge impact he had on the world we now live in. We still feel the aftershocks of WW2 around the world.
 
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