Pick 5 Figures From History

[Cmdr Sheppard]

Pick five people from history, they can be anyone from your great grandparents to Alexander the Great. Then let's say you brought these people into the present, and were to show them what America and the world are like today. What would they think of how far humanity has come, what would they think of contemporary American politics? What would they think of the internet, Facebook, television, cell phones, and other technology that hadn't even been dreamed of when they were alive. What would you show them? What video games would you play with them? How would you represent the 21st century world to them? Who would be the five people you'd pick? For the sake of this argument, lets assume that what you show them wouldn't have any affect history or anything like that.

I'd pick George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein, and Julius Caesar. I'd tell them the political topics that people debate, and get their feedback on it. I'd have them join the forums I go to, including this one. I'd show them Facebook, and become friends with them. I'd show them movies like the original trilogy of Star Wars, Jurassic Park, Inception, Zombieland, Battle: Los Angeles, and Saving Private Ryan. We'd play games like Mass Effect, StarCraft, Resident Evil, Dino Crisis, and we'd all play some really stupid scrub shooter like Call of Duty together. I'd also show them how we can instantly communicate with people from half way across the world in a second, and how America controls the entire world now. I'd also show them how we have information at our fingertips and show them their own Wikipedia pages. Discuss.

 

[Blagger]

General Plautius. He was the Roman general who lead the invasion of Britain. It's unlikely that we'd play video games with each other. I'd like to think we'd share a cup of heated wine by the fire, and I'd ask him if he realised how savage and violent a man he was, and if he cared.

Alfred the Great. He was the first king of England to unify the Saxon kingdoms under one kingdom, and basically laid the foundations for the society that we in the west enjoy today i.e - enforcable law, taxation, standing military etc... He also mercilessly punked the Vikings and sent them all packing back to Scandinavia.

Adolf Hitler. I'd keep him at arm's length, but I'm still curious to know what his future objectives were if the allies hadn't interfered with his overall master plan. I'm guessing they weren't exactly pleasant, for some.

Leonardo da Vinci. The man literally had ideas falling out of his ears, but never lived to see their eventual adaptation, construction and application. I'd love to introduce him computer aided design.

Oliver Cromwell. He was a realist who knew that harsh and drastic measures were an unavoidable aspect of running a drastically tranformed fledgling state. I can understand if most of those of Irish descent may take exception to this.


P.s. No, I'm not really that interested in meeting the man that nearly all Englishmen feel obliged to mention when asked which figure from history they'd like to meet. Besides, they've wrote so much about Churchill that I almost feel as though I know the man.

 

[Jackson]

Very interesting question. I would select the framers of the constitution and how they felt the constitution is being interpretedhe years and today. I think it would brew some ulcers. I would love to hear the replies and what they thought of the world today in terms of their great experiment.

I've often thought this would make a great movie if it was done without political biases to either side.

 

[rightwinger]

Very interesting question. I would select the framers of the constitution and how they felt the constitution is being interpretedhe years and today. I think it would brew some ulcers. I would love to hear the replies and what they thought of the world today in terms of their great experiment.

I've often thought this would make a great movie if it was done without political biases to either side.

We treat our people more fairly than they treated theirs

What would they think about a black President? A woman as Secretary of State?

 

[zzzz]

John the Baptist - Being a Jew how would he view Israel and the state of religion in the world?
Alexander Hamilton - How would he like the all the governmental control in individuals lives and the financial debt the government is in.
Davy Crockett - The wilderness is gone and the freedom with it. Would he be able to live?
Sam Houston - seeing the shape of America today would he still be thankful his county of Texas gave up their independence to join the Union?
Abraham Lincoln - How would he view Obama as President?

 

[code1211]

If I could bring 5 people from history, it would be a true honor:

Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Edison

Jesus

Socrates

Shakespeare

In all cases, my questions to them would be pretty much the same: Are you who they say you are? and How in the world did you make all of this happen?

After that, what a joy watching them discover the world.

Would translators be supplied?

 

[emilynghiem]

Interesting question.

My first thought is to pick Jesus, Buddha, and Jefferson just to tell them thank you.
And to ask their help to mediate a few disputes over interpreting their visions and intent.
So I would show them where people are having trouble reconciling, and ask their help.

I would ask Mohammad to come back and straighten out disputes between his followers so there is no more killing over how his military and spiritual instructions are interpreted.
I would show him the Constitutional laws given by the Founding Fathers, and ask him to confirm if these are "angels" sent by God to give these laws for Muslims to respect.
(If that is considered blasphemous to ask that, then I would pick Thomas Aquinas to ask him what was his last revelation that shocked him into silence and voided all he wrote.)

For the fifth person, I would ask for someone to come back who I could have done more to help to prevent tragedy. I can think of a number of people who died too suddenly, I would ask for one more chance just for their families to give them a hug and say goodbye.

 

[percysunshine]

Pick 5 Figures From History .

3, pi, 7, epsilon, 2, and 4.


Oops, that was six.

 

[Grace]

I like reading all the choices yall are giving, and the reasons why. Hope this thread continues. Very informative even for some in the now. (I recognize all the name, but didnt know some of the tidbits given of what they did in history).

 

[emilynghiem]

P.S. RE: Buddha
1. Specifically I would show him what is being taught now about Jesus and Christianity, and ask what part of the Bible aligns with the "last Buddha" that is supposed to come to bring enlightenment to all souls as Buddhas. Is this last Buddha the spirit of truth/comforter/Holy Spirit? Or is it Jesus who comes again with the Holy Spirit? I have seen all kinds of interpretations of what Buddha said or did not say about any "Maitreya Buddha." So I would ask him to clarify what his vision really was, and ask where in the Bible the visions align.

2. Also, if that last answer, about bringing back someone who died too suddenly (or someone who disappeared or died without leaving an explanation), doesn't count

I would like to meet the people who first invented the numeric system we use today, and show them all the computers and digitized/"scanning" technology based on numbers. I don't think they could have EVER imagined where symbols or figures would have led to all that we take for granted today. Even at stores where we "scan" codes for products or prices, whole systems of huge inventories tracked by series of numbers that we just let computer programs read and calculate for us now. All the databases, and space and military technology that arose from mathematical systems built on these numbers.

 

[AgainstAmnesty]

You take any of the Founding Fathers of our country, and they'd likely tell us we have no idea what they intended.

 

[rikules]

Very interesting question. I would select the framers of the constitution and how they felt the constitution is being interpretedhe years and today. I think it would brew some ulcers. I would love to hear the replies and what they thought of the world today in terms of their great experiment.

I've often thought this would make a great movie if it was done without political biases to either side.

We treat our people more fairly than they treated theirs

What would they think about a black President? A woman as Secretary of State?

and allowing even non-property owners the right to vote

ending slavery

allowing women equal rights (voting, property)

and i'd really like to know how they felt about criminalizing pot (a plant most of them grew and many of them smoked)

 

[Immanuel]

Jesus Christ - This being his second coming would relieve us of having to worry about anything in the future. However, I would want to know what he thought about what was currently happening and how to solve our problems.

Martin Luther - for insights into the Word of God.

Nostradamus - How far off was he and what does he predict for the future... i.e. any fabulous stock picks? Next years Super Bowl winner etc. etc. etc. The next Triple Crown winner for Horse Racing.

Samuel Clemens aka Mark Twain - "And you thought the Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's court had it tough? Welcome to our world."

Thomas Jefferson - You helped us into this mess, now get us out of it.

Immie

 

[emilynghiem]

We treat our people more fairly than they treated theirs

What would they think about a black President? A woman as Secretary of State?

and allowing even non-property owners the right to vote

ending slavery

allowing women equal rights (voting, property)

and i'd really like to know how they felt about criminalizing pot (a plant most of them grew and many of them smoked)

1. they'd likely recognize the same splits, back then as today, between advocates for smaller localized vs. large centralized govt. And between far right Christians aligned with conservative business interests vs liberal Christian left pushing equality before economics.

they may be floored that corporations are considered persons, and how this has thrown off the checks and balances and bypassed protections against abuses of power!

not to mention the money and influence from contracts and subsidies from everything to drug prescriptions to military to prisons. also the vested interests in lawyers and judges keeping a monopoly on the legal system as well as influencing all three branches of govt.

2. as for "ending slavery" they'd point to the dependence on Mexican and Chinese slave labor, and also the trafficking of drugs and humans tied to the trade.

And we STILL have "unequal" property ownership, where people don't have equal rights.
Big business influences run over individuals and taxpayers all the time.

We are supposed to have equal protection under the law "in theory" but in practice, poverty and lack of education in owning houses/business or other property makes large sectors of the population unequal and prone to oppression. And unequal political influence and representation biases policies toward conflict and those who benefit off conflict.

3. women were already active, many First Ladies had as much stake in fighting to keep the country together to put up a strong front to gain credibility as a nation. So I doubt that would be much of a surprise; if anything they may be surprised it has taken so long.

Jefferson did propose some kind of plan for the gradual abolition of slavery, and many of the Quaker leaders back were already against slavery. So it was just a matter of time.

4. As for criminalizing pot or other drugs (aside from the issue of state vs federal authority which was always a battle going) the more critical issue is the idea of people abusing guns for crimes related to drugs, instead of guns for defense of the country and freedom.

They would probably argue the Second Amendment was for "WELL-REGULATED" military, i.e., defense of the laws/Constitutional freedoms, NOT to abuse guns to violate laws!

The same way guns are abused for offense instead of reserved for defense, so is civil defense in the legal system also abused to evade justice instead of establish it.

These problems were always there, but today it is done in a such a systemic way, as if that has become the norm.

Instead of fighting wars to defend our country from outside enemies, it is being destroyed from within by abusing freedoms to fight each other for political or economic motives.

 

[Ancient lion]

Good Q indeed .

My reply would be

1- The illiterate Prophet Muhammad (may Allah's blessings and peace be upon him) who was chosen by God to be the last prophet and supported with many miracles. The greatest is the quran. Quran was sent to people who were so eloquent in the Arabic language. It's an eternal miracle from many aspects. The other amazing thing is that those who are embracing islam were increasing all the time yet there is no compulsion in religion !

2- Abu bakr Assedeeq
Khalifa Abu Bakr

3- Umar ibn Alkhattab
Era of Omar Ibn Al Khattab - - Islam Story

4- Umar Ibn Abdelazeez
Umar ibn Abdil Aziz

5- Salahuddin - From rare characters in history who got respect from enemies before friends !

N.B. I supported my view with some link because i know many people didn't ever hear about them !

 

[rightwinger]

You take any of the Founding Fathers of our country, and they'd likely tell us we have no idea what they intended.

We have improved in areas they never imagined. US the most powerful and influential country on earth? US the dominant culture?

Not bad for a bunch of farmers