Name 5 of the most influential people to you.

[Doctor Amadeus]

awwwww
Nice!
Do you like my signature?

Yeah, Noam Chomsky pisses me off, and challenges my thinking at the same time, through the years. One of the very few intellectuals that could genuinely piss people off and not really intentionally.

He has this way of just forcing truth in a very real and ugly way, but not with insults, but real straight to the point talks and he also doesn't care who he pisses off either. I like that.

There are a lot of criticisms about him, but they seem to be more pretty bullshit, rather than to deal with the merits of an argument they disagree with him on. He's a Giant to me.

Except for MY MOM!

- - - Updated - - -

I read both pages and thought long and hard but nobody's name came to mind save my parents but they don't really count in my opinion as their influence is not something I actively seek but rather an inevitable part of being raised by two loving and well-adjusted Humans.

If I really think about it though there's probably one person I have been influenced by and that's a character called Haviland Tuf in one of GRRM's old books called Tuf Voyaging:

GRRM really changed the world, that book looks interesting.

[Milchshake]

1. Me
2. Me
3. Me
4. Me
5. Me

Kinda like how the 5 greatest rappers in the world happen to be Dylan.



Honestly though
Chuck Close
Albert Paley
Norman Mailer
My Metals Professor
Klaus Krippendorf

[Jayburner]

My big brother. The best man I know and will ever know.

[Grimbold21]

My dad/mother
Seneca
Jordan Peterson
Christopher Hitchens
Tolkien

[melodramocracy]

My father (and not in a good way)
A jeweler I used to work for, easily one of the most interesting and smartest individuals I've ever met
My youngest aunt.
One of my best friends that I've known for close to 30 years, though we don't talk much now (also not always a positive influence)
Indirectly - JRR Tolkein or Lars Ulrich (which is odd, because I view him as a hack at this point)

[FobManX]

My grandfather
My father
Vince Lombardi
Tupac
Mahatma Ghandi

[downnola]

Milton Friedman, H.L. Mencken, Christopher Hitchens, Jordan Peterson, George Orwell, Peter Singer, and Thomas Paine.

[Nyoken]

Lt. Michael P. Murphy

[Doctor Amadeus]

Dawkins was SUPER close to being 4th on my 3-item list, but I do somewhat disagree with his style of presentation. But the points he makes and the general sentiment of the sum of his work is immensly important to humanity in my eyes.
I'm fairly convinced that he somewhat fell victim to the kind of speech his ideological "opponents" like to employ, tempting him to reply and act in a similar way, when he actually should be way above it. But he really is one of the type of people I'd wish a LOT of more global influence upon. Being vocal and at times too blunt and simple seems to be "with the flow" currently, so I kind of have to applaud him for being able to put himself at those levels in order to be listened to. It's a two-edged blade, I'll admit that much.


This man was the closest contestant to my 5th place. Such an immense man. I really love everything he did/said, although, as Dawkins, he has been slightly tarnished by his late popularity.

The issue with both of these two figures is that they both basically HAD to resort to rethorics and styles that are sometimes questionable, to even register on a broader scale. Their actual sentiments go a lot deeper and are a lot more important than what pokes through via some of the more popular speeches/videos, but I'm thankful to them for basically "sacrificing" themselves to publicity to further a very beneficial cause.
But I also hate them for making it look like their philosophies are a lot shallower than they really are in their more recognized appearances. I still attribute this fact to the general style of "media" that is, sadly, not overlooked these days. But it gives a few openings to invalid criticizsm based on irrelevant points of vastly more involved and important issues. As I said: A very ambivalent topic.

But both of these guys are brilliant beyond what is generally recognized, and I hold both of them in similarly high regards. I wish many many more people would be much much more like them.



I'm very impressed by your choices. Up to this day, I'd never have considered you as an actually thinking entity. I'm still pondering if this means that you're really just an impostor, or if these dudes weren't as great as I think they are/were. Or if I might have been wrong, and we just draw very different conclusions based on the very same principles. The latter seems terrifying

Yeah Richard Dawkins is dead on with many important thinks. Still doesn’t change the fact o think he’d a cosmic size dick.

[Doctor Amadeus]

Maybe he does, who knows But yeah, his mannerisms aren't always beneficial to his messages. Important or not, huge dong or not.

Well even if I hate someone I have to concede or agree with them if they are right. But yeah Dawkins is a bit of a drama llama.

[Caerule]

Besides my dad.

5th grade school teacher.
Steve Irwin.
Jon Stewart.
Chris Metzen.
Stephen Colbert.

[Nehezbegar]

1. Myself
2. Myself
3. Myself
4. Myself
5. Myself

This


//10chars

[LiiLoSNK]

Jesus
Black Jesus
Korean Jesus
Yeezus
My mom's son.

[xcitng]

Hilter
Donald Trump
Harvey Weinstein
Josef Fritzl
Richard Kuklinski

[Zelk]

Marx/Engels
Bakunin
Derrida
Brian Wilson
David Byrne

[Deletedaccount1]

In terms of intellectual infleunces it would be Michael Huemer, Leonard Peikoff, Bryan Caplan, Scott Alexander and David Friedman. Although I think it changes all the time and in terms of my general life, I wouldn't know where to start.

[SLSAMG]

1. Fyodor Dostoyevsky
2. Oskar Schindler
3. Warren Buffett
4. Hunter S. Thompson
5. Muhammad Ali

[Kuntantee]

I'm very impressed by your choices. Up to this day, I'd never have considered you as an actually thinking entity. I'm still pondering if this means that you're really just an impostor, or if these dudes weren't as great as I think they are/were. Or if I might have been wrong, and we just draw very different conclusions based on the very same principles. The latter seems terrifying

Yeah, I am imposting on a random gaming forum. I am a Turk, and a C++ programmer. First three should be justified at this point, Hopfield Networks have a distinct side compared to other Neural Network types, that is, it has philosophical implications, meaning stupid entities can bunch up and achieve greater things. The topics in CS covering Alan Turing and Gauss made me realize how ignorant I was back in undergrad. When I was studying statistical topics we use in pattern recognition, I was shocked how widespread Gaussian was, effectively making ma a materialist.

Anyway, you thinking me not being a thinking entity is an observation problem on your end.

[Danner]

I was told a long time ago, that if you look on someone's book shelf, and could pick at least five of the most common authors, that could tell you everything you needed to know about a person.

I am not really much of a purist in that sense, but I do believe there are some truly very influential people in through time, that although I wouldn't consider a HERO, I would say have had the greatest impact on me.

You haven't heard about anyone on my list, because my list is literally everyday people close to me. So I do not think this thread as stated makes a lot of sense. That said, there are a lot of famous people that have influenced my perspective greatly. Which would have been a much better thread topic.

As such, I'll answer this thread as if that was the case!

Mahatma Gandhi
Arnulf Øverland
Martin Luther King Jr
Dalai Lama
Nelson Mandela

When I grew up I had a terrible anger. When I got angry, I got so angry that .. the best picture I can paint is that I channeled mana, anime super saiyan style. I was tempered only by the fact that I was (and still am) extremely weak. Today they would call it some four letter syndrome or something and supress it with medication. But that's just some silly letters making an excuse for poor behaviour. Anger is manageable. And at some point I decided that no matter what I would not get uncontrollably angry again. I was literally scared of what I would do when I lost it. Ever since, I have held my temper, refusing to ever lose control.

But the fear was still there. I started to cherish the fact that I was weak. Even if I did lose it, I couldn't do much damage. I was literally beaten by kids years younger than me in school, and this turned into bullying - but I had no desire to change that fact. I did not want to "toughen up". I did not want to "deal what I got", even though I knew I could. It was more important for me to not win through force. I did not want to go back to being the person who could do that.

Instead, I started using my mind as a weapon. Talk my way out of issues. The pacifist way. I read about Gandhi. I read about Arnulf Øverland. I read about Martin Luther King Jr. I read about the Dalai Lama. I read about Nelson Mandela. The people may not be the ideals, but the ideals they stand for is something that shaped my way of thinking more than anything. I refuse to believe there isn't a problem that cannot be solved through peaceful means. It's just harder.

[Doctor Amadeus]

You haven't heard about anyone on my list, because my list is literally everyday people close to me. So I do not think this thread as stated makes a lot of sense. That said, there are a lot of famous people that have influenced my perspective greatly. Which would have been a much better thread topic.

As such, I'll answer this thread as if that was the case!

Mahatma Gandhi
Arnulf Øverland
Martin Luther King Jr
Dalai Lama
Nelson Mandela

When I grew up I had a terrible anger. When I got angry, I got so angry that .. the best picture I can paint is that I channeled mana, anime super saiyan style. I was tempered only by the fact that I was (and still am) extremely weak. Today they would call it some four letter syndrome or something and supress it with medication. But that's just some silly letters making an excuse for poor behaviour. Anger is manageable. And at some point I decided that no matter what I would not get uncontrollably angry again. I was literally scared of what I would do when I lost it. Ever since, I have held my temper, refusing to ever lose control.

But the fear was still there. I started to cherish the fact that I was weak. Even if I did lose it, I couldn't do much damage. I was literally beaten by kids years younger than me in school, and this turned into bullying - but I had no desire to change that fact. I did not want to "toughen up". I did not want to "deal what I got", even though I knew I could. It was more important for me to not win through force. I did not want to go back to being the person who could do that.

Instead, I started using my mind as a weapon. Talk my way out of issues. The pacifist way. I read about Gandhi. I read about Arnulf Øverland. I read about Martin Luther King Jr. I read about the Dalai Lama. I read about Nelson Mandela. The people may not be the ideals, but the ideals they stand for is something that shaped my way of thinking more than anything. I refuse to believe there isn't a problem that cannot be solved through peaceful means. It's just harder.

You have had an interesting journey so far, amazing sources.

Yeah pacifism I think takes a strength and intelligence the world might not be ready for. It takes strength to let go of hate. In the case of MLK, the first time I had ever heard of him was when I think I was 5, and it was of course during his holiday and hearing the stories of how he died.

Terrified me to think because of the color of your skin, and your ideas you could be hated that much people would want to kill you. I think it's easier to say what you would kill for, and harder to say what you are willing to die for.