The most influential person ever...

[cwes99_03]

impact - Broad, societal-level changes or improvements that typically occur beyond the immediate influence of program activities. http://www.ncddr.org/du/researchexchange/v09n02/2_terms.html

[Biochemist]

If impact is more important than name recognition, the gent who first fermented beer or wine would have to be number one. Just think of all of the children he has caused.

:confused:

[cwes99_03]

HAHAHAHAA, it's funny cause it's true.

[chatlack]

What is influential? It has to do with the person not the thing he created. Is it wrong?

[cwes99_03]

Well i think the original thread said we couldn't just name "that guy that invented the wheel". So the actual person is the important part of this thread.

 

I was just pointing out that the meaning of impact on society, and influence on society was the same.

[rockytriton]

there are many definitions to words and many people can take their meanings differently. In my view, if someone had an "impact" they cased things to change. If someone had an "influence" they caused people to want to change things, and possibly caused things to change themselves as well.

[cwes99_03]

Ok, are you saying impact is a stronger word that influence or vice versa. I can see how impact could be a stronger word. If you use it in say the game of billiards. If you want to have a great impact on the table you hit the ball hard and drive it around the table. If you just want to move a ball into the pocket, you want to influence it (i guess the difference is in hit or finesse, but you get the point.)

Anyway, haven't thought of any others that have seriously influenced/impacted a major portion of the world except maybe emperor Constantine, in the spread of christianity.

[rockytriton]

No, the opposite. I would say if you have an impace on society, you do something that changes things. If you have an influence on society, you not only do something to change things but you influnce others to change things even more.

[cwes99_03]

that to me is the same thing. If you influence things, you only start the ball rolling, maybe from a speck of dust you get something the size of a monster truck. If you impact something, you start with a monster truck (of an idea) and it snowballs into a greater thing. Newton had impact, in that his idea caused a revolution in physics, (same with Einstein). The person who physically built the a-bomb dropped on nagasake, influenced things because while he didn't himself decide to use it, he made it available to another person to use and that person then had an impact on society (Truman you have a vote.)

 

Sorry guys, if you think this is off topic let me know. It seems we are arguing semantics which pertian to the subject, but only in as much as we are killing the simplicity of the original thought.

[goku]

Tom Hanks, for making so many great movies.

[Dark Mind]

Who invented the gun?

[rockytriton]

I will use my father as an example. He was pretty much out of my life since I was 2 months old. He obviously impacted my life because I wouldn't be here without him. However, he had no influence in my life whatsoever.

[pgrmdave]

Nolan Bushnell

Stephen Russell

:confused:

[rockytriton]

孔夫子 (Confucius)

[Buffy]

Theodore Geisel

 

Now adding one more to the Audio-Telly-O-Tally-O-Count,

Buffy

[niviene]

Me.

 

and maybe Kepler.

 

but definitely Me.

 

:confused:

 

 

Seriously, that's a hard call. EVER in history? For the whole planet? I'd have to say some of the highlights for me would be Ptolemy, Aristotle, Socrates, Jesus, COpernicus, Constantine, Charlemagne, Muhammad, DaVinci, Galileo, Kepler, Martin Luther, FDR, Hitler, Winston Churchill, Gandhi, Madonna, Dubya.... I could name ten thousand (as we all could) but these are the first that leap to my mind without thinking! This is a great thread, I can't wait to hear who the author chose!

[goku]

definitely Me.

who are you?.............who said that?......... :naughty:

:confused: