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Well, jtur, I put Napoleon as the most influential European ruler in history not Alfonso X, Constantine as the most influential in western history. My criteria was to look at what they influenced, judge the category as compared with others, judge his or her influence on that category, then rank them according to how they stack up. And all of the people seemed like they most likely existed according to the sites I visited or else I would have added such figures as Vyasa, Canjie, Abraham, etc. But who would you have added?
Who would your top 10 be in terms of number of people influenced? I'm trying to broaden my scope on this subject. I've been working on this list off and on for the past few years.
Who would your top 10 be in terms of number of people influenced? I'm trying to broaden my scope on this subject. I've been working on this list off and on for the past few years.
Any such lists, whether with 3 people, 10 people, or 62 people (and why stop at 62?) will always be highly arguable. Even the apparently simple question you posed above is not simple because we have to define "influenced". I would argue that Isaac Newton (for example) influenced everyone alive today, even those who have never heard of him, because his elucidation of differential calculus (yes, Leibnitz independently "discovered" it too) formed the basis for civilization's amazing accomplishments in science and engineering which came after him.
The five names which I put forward in my post #3 in this thread all had, in my opinion, a very broad influence on the totality of western culture, that is, on our thinking. In my view, the way we think of things is more important than the accomplishments of a ruler (however powerful) who conquers territory. I am reminded in that regard of Shelley's famous sonnet "Ozymandias".
Any such lists, whether with 3 people, 10 people, or 62 people (and why stop at 62?) will always be highly arguable. Even the apparently simple question you posed above is not simple because we have to define "influenced". I would argue that Isaac Newton (for example) influenced everyone alive today, even those who have never heard of him, because his elucidation of differential calculus (yes, Leibnitz independently "discovered" it too) formed the basis for civilization's amazing accomplishments in science and engineering which came after him.
62 is all I could fit. That's the kind of discussion I'm trying to have. Such as I think Goodyear doesn't beat out Martin Luther because such and such, and I say he does because such and such. Or (a name not on my list) beats out this guy because such and such. The criteria is the number of people influenced.
(cont. from above) Of course in the end it is all opinions and guesstimating the number of people influenced by for instance if we're talking about Goodyear the number of tires sold + the number of rubber balls sold and how rubber balls influence sports + other rubber products minus the percentage of rubber products made by synthetic rubber factored by how much influence you give to him for the advent of products made with vulcanized rubber + how much influence you give him for discovering the first thermosetting process and how much that influenced thermoset plastics, and so forth, compared with around 1 billion protestants and how much influence you attribute to Martin Luther in terms of the advent of Protestantism.
^ If you actually read what I said then you would know that what I said was that I put out a list and just want people to agree or disagree with the rankings or not? If not, then tell me why you disagree. If you disagree with Goodyear being ahead of Luther then tell me why. If you have better names then tell me who he/she beats and why. Since you want me to go first, I'll do that. I think Goodyear beats Luther because of the many devices that became practical through the advent of rubber of which he had a lot to do with. And those devices are more crucial to peoples' lives than many protestants' religion and their access to being able to read the Bible. Entire industries are possible because of rubber. It effects peoples' livelihoods such as commuting and the increase in commodities arriving at places much faster. Now it's your turn; why do you disagree?
colonel sanders
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sears&roebuck
henry ford
steve jobs
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