The Most Exalted Endeavorer Of Human Endeavors

 Butch and Lucy Loo. One of these dogs is not going to make the cover of Field & Stream

Shooting the ol' conversational breeze with a few chums today when the topic of great human endeavor came up. That's what happens when Football season ends and Baseball season hasn't kicked in yet - people start talking about human endeavor outside of the world of sport.

I suppose if the Avalanche were playing up to par, or if any of us had more than a passing interest in the Nuggets, we would at least sprinkle some hockey and basketball into the conversation, but no, at least not this evening.

This evening we talked about explorers, inventors, generals, poets, artists, businessmen, and men of God.

We didn't play the game of "Who was the greatest" in a particular field so much as we played the game of "Who was the most influential."

For example, while most people will agree that Leonardo da Vinci was quite possibly the most multi-dimensional talent that ever lived, his influence was limited by his secretive nature - all of his great ideas were buried in notebooks that did not see the light of day until centuries after his death, and he wrote all his great ideas in mirror writing - not a pragmatic way of getting the word out.

And as an artist, Mona Lisa aside, most of the twenty or so paintings he finished are somewhat pedestrian.

Most Influential in a specific field of human endeavor may seem like a tricky row to plow, but for me it isn't. I generally regard the most influential as the one who is most imitated.

This is what caused a bit of conflict in tonight's discussion, as both Mark and Roy thought "most influential" should also include most end user exposure of an idea or product. They both cited the example of Philo T. Farnsworth, the inventor of practical electronic television (and, incidentally, a nuclear fusion device) - not many people know who he is, but everybody utilizes his invention.

But then I threw in glass, stating that if end user application was to be considered, then the anonymous person who first formulated glass would have to be considered the most influential person in history simply because of the incredible universal usefulness of glass.

So we compromised a bit. We agreed that most influential would have to be a combination of both - most end users, and most imitators.

Henry Ford was immediately considered, as his application of the assembly line to automobile manufacturing has had a decided influence on the lives of people in nearly every country on the planet, and his business model has been duplicated by incalculable thousands.

So was Johannes Gutenberg, of course. Mechanical movable type ruled the world for almost 500 years, and it's beyond imagination how it's application influenced nearly every single human who could read or write.

Of course Jesus Christ, Buddha, Mohamed and even Billy Graham were included. The influence of religious leaders is impossible to over-estimate, bringing order and solace (as well as, unfortunately, chaos and strife) to billions.

In this day and age, when celebrities are given so much exposure they can actually influence elections and public policy, naturally such figures as Oprah, Letterman, et. al., were brought up. However, it was quickly agreed upon that in the historical perspective, most celebs have very little lasting influence. We all remember when Erik Estrada ruled the world.

Finally, we all had arrived at who we thought was the most influential person who has ever lived on the planet Earth.

Roy: Isaac Newton. I should mention that Roy Works for SAIC. I put Newton in my top 5, easily.

Corine: Jesus Christ. Doubtful that the influence of Christ on humanity can be overestimated - even those who do not recognize or follow the teachings of Jesus Christ are reacting to his influence.

Dina: John F. Kennedy. Dina is Irish, and Catholic, and a Democrat.
    
Mark: Copernicus. He did turn the world on it's head, so to speak. Hard to not go with that choice.

Me: Thomas Jefferson. Simply for the words "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal." It is my belief that those are the single most important words ever put down on paper (or parchment - I think it was parchment).

As I stated earlier, an influential person is one who is oft-imitated. Hard to argue with the imitators of Tom Jefferson. 187 years after his death and the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness are still considered good ideas.