# If you don't know who this is then you are what's wrong with the world. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 15, 2016, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-know-who-this-is-then-you-are-whats-wrong-with-the-world/743211 "2016-01-15T10:12:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![PlaceboTarget](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/placebotarget/32/1073_2.png) [@PlaceboTarget](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlaceboTarget)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-know-who-this-is-then-you-are-whats-wrong-with-the-world/743211/41 "2016-01-15T21:33:56Z")
> [@somepumpkin](#): > > I don’t want to hijack the thread, but I like where you’re going with this. The last sentence seems especially poignant… I plan to give this some thought. I hope you’re cynical. 🙂 I know I am. ---
**Author:** ![Octarine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/22d042/32.png) [@Octarine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octarine)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-know-who-this-is-then-you-are-whats-wrong-with-the-world/743211/42 "2016-01-15T22:06:45Z")
I got everyone except Elion, Paine, and Snooki. Right after I finish this murder, I’ll celebrate my apparent net positive effect! ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-know-who-this-is-then-you-are-whats-wrong-with-the-world/743211/43 "2016-01-15T23:01:49Z")
I got all but Elion and Snookie but I still say I’m what’s wrong with the world. ---
**Author:** ![somepumpkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@somepumpkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/somepumpkin)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-know-who-this-is-then-you-are-whats-wrong-with-the-world/743211/44 "2016-01-15T23:08:23Z")
> [@PlaceboTarget](#): > > I hope you’re cynical. 🙂 > > I know I am. Very… that’s why I gotta give it more thought 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2016, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-know-who-this-is-then-you-are-whats-wrong-with-the-world/743211/45 "2016-01-16T02:06:20Z")
I couldn’t identify all the photos (I missed Paine, Gertrud whatever, and thought Newton might have been Descartes) but I was familiar with all but Gertrud X. Who the hell is Snooki? Okay, I sort of know now; something about a TV show called Jersey Shore that I had also never heard of. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2016, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-know-who-this-is-then-you-are-whats-wrong-with-the-world/743211/46 "2016-01-16T04:57:27Z")
> [@Rushgeekgirl](#): > > I got all but Elion and Snookie but I still say I’m what’s wrong with the world. It’s those _Goddamn Canadians_ that have wrecked you! Subdivisions! ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2016, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-know-who-this-is-then-you-are-whats-wrong-with-the-world/743211/47 "2016-01-16T08:15:10Z")
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a picture of Tesla before, I don’t know who Gertrude Elion was (though I would recognise a picture of Ambrose Fleming, which not many would these days), and Thomas Paine seems a bit of an outlier (nor have I seen a picture of him before), but I did know the rest on the left, and not the grumpy lady with the drink problem. But the question all this raises is, what do you mean by “know”? “General knowledge” (simple factual recall) only takes you so far (and there’s a case for saying that, on its own, it’s reducing in cultural/educational value when so much of the world’s knowledge is at our fingertips anyway, indeed there’s so much more to be recalled we may have to reduce our reliance on general knowledge simply to protect ourselves from mental overload. Putting a name to a picture is pointless if you don’t _understand_ what they did or signify; understanding (not that I do) the cultural significance of “celebrity” culture, rather than just dismissing it as ephemeral triviality, might well be an important area of knowledge in itself. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2016, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-know-who-this-is-then-you-are-whats-wrong-with-the-world/743211/48 "2016-01-16T14:17:42Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > And why is Thomas Paine being included with a group of scientists? That spot should have gone to one of his contemporaries like Joseph Priestley or Antoine Lavoisier. Heh, same. I didn’t get Elion or Paine and I know who Paine was I just had a mental block because I thought we were naming scientists based on the OP. It’s probably a lot more meaningful if you know who they are by name than if you can pick their portrait out of a block of images though. Do people even talk about Snooki any more? I mean, wasn’t that whole thing a few years ago? I’ve no worries that in a couple decades Darwin and Einstein will be forgotten but Snooki’s name will live on. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2016, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-know-who-this-is-then-you-are-whats-wrong-with-the-world/743211/49 "2016-01-16T14:41:21Z")
Just wait until Snooki wins the Nobel Prize for her work in loop quantum cosmology. Then you’re going to look bad for not knowing who she is. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2016, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-know-who-this-is-then-you-are-whats-wrong-with-the-world/743211/50 "2016-01-16T21:56:54Z")
I polled 200+ members in one my FB groups after I saw this thread. Not a single person got Elion right. I still wonder about that image because it looks nothing like any of her other photographs. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2016, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-know-who-this-is-then-you-are-whats-wrong-with-the-world/743211/51 "2016-01-16T22:01:06Z")
> [@Rushgeekgirl](#): > > Not a single person got Elion right. I still wonder about that image because it looks nothing like any of her other photographs. See post #37. That’s because it’s not Gertrude Elion but [Gertrude Bell.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gertrude_Bell) ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2016, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-know-who-this-is-then-you-are-whats-wrong-with-the-world/743211/52 "2016-01-16T22:10:06Z")
I recognize Hawking, Einstein, Tesla, Newton, Freud, Darwin, and I’m guessing that Marie Curie with the chemicals. In my defense though, none of those others had a show on E! for years and showed up in my recent news feed. Its like most of them are dead or something 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2016, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-know-who-this-is-then-you-are-whats-wrong-with-the-world/743211/53 "2016-01-16T22:28:40Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **astro** : > > Getrude Elion’s inclusion is a desperate grab by the click bait author/hack in trying to include another female scientist besides Curie. She may have done very important work but as general knowledge of famous scientists goes she’s fairly obscure outside her field. They could also have gone with Lisa Randall, or Emmy Noether, or Lise Meitner, or Grace Hopper, or Ada Lovelace, off the top of my head. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2016, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-know-who-this-is-then-you-are-whats-wrong-with-the-world/743211/54 "2016-01-16T22:43:06Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > They could also have gone with Lisa Randall, or Emmy Noether, or Lise Meitner, or Grace Hopper, or Ada Lovelace, off the top of my head. Or Nobel Prize winner Barbara McClintock, or Rosalind Franklin. More recognizable female scientists could have included Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, or Rachel Carson. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2016, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-know-who-this-is-then-you-are-whats-wrong-with-the-world/743211/55 "2016-01-17T01:19:36Z")
Without looking at other people’s answers: Column 1 - Hawking, Curie, Tesla Column 2 - Einstein, Freud Column 3 - X, X, X Column 4 - Sagan, Darwin ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2016, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-know-who-this-is-then-you-are-whats-wrong-with-the-world/743211/56 "2016-01-17T01:24:38Z")
And I have no idea who/what Snooki is, though I have heard the name. ---
**Author:** ![Nelson\_Pike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Nelson\_Pike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nelson_Pike)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2016, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-know-who-this-is-then-you-are-whats-wrong-with-the-world/743211/57 "2016-01-17T02:12:18Z")
I missed Paine and Elion. Paine was not close to being a scientist of sufficient stature to be included in an ID quiz of this nature. Nor was Sagan, a great popularizer, but not a great scientific genius. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2016, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-know-who-this-is-then-you-are-whats-wrong-with-the-world/743211/58 "2016-01-17T02:22:19Z")
I was feeling bad for missing Elion, it was the only one I missed, but then as **RobDog** and **Colibri** mentioned, that is not her picture. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2016, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-know-who-this-is-then-you-are-whats-wrong-with-the-world/743211/59 "2016-01-17T04:05:46Z")
Missed Paine but know who he is and read Common Sense. Didn’t recognize Gertrude and didn’t know about her. EITHER of the Gertrudes. How intriguing! Missed Snooki, but I have heard of her on South Park, which I hope could be taken as a plus or a minus. I have to admit that I have never actually read any of Marie Curie’s work, though I’m a distant relative of Pierre Curie and have read just a little of his work. In fact I’m doing something with Curie point temperature these days and only this past week was playing with a piece of gadolinium in my bedroom, trying to get it to warm up enough to let go of a magnet, which for some reason was surprisingly difficult. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-know-who-this-is-then-you-are-whats-wrong-with-the-world/743211/60 "2016-01-18T00:59:06Z")
I think the whole thing says more about the amount & diversity of what one reads, watches and pays attention to images. Other than knowing stuff this does not do the world any good if there is no common sense involved. I wonder who is the arbitrator of what has been the best things for the world to date VS their degree of importance in 100 years with the things we do not know are important yet? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-know-who-this-is-then-you-are-whats-wrong-with-the-world/743211.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-know-who-this-is-then-you-are-whats-wrong-with-the-world/743211.md?page=4)