# What person alive today, will be remembered 1000 years from now? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 12, 2011, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-person-alive-today-will-be-remembered-1000-years-from-now/592402 "2011-08-12T01:04:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Namkcalb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c89c15/32.png) [@Namkcalb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Namkcalb)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2011, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-person-alive-today-will-be-remembered-1000-years-from-now/592402/81 "2011-08-12T10:06:03Z")
> [@Alka\_Seltzer](#): > > [Tim Berners-Lee](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Berners_Lee) also has an outside chance. [troll] Who？Clinton’s veep, the powerpoint wiz. [/troll] Seriously though, I don’t think he’s that well known now, so it’s unlikely he’ll be remembered then. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2011, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-person-alive-today-will-be-remembered-1000-years-from-now/592402/82 "2011-08-12T10:15:11Z")
> [@Hogfather65](#): > > Looking at some of the past ‘common knowledge’ people it seems there are mainly 3 classes that will put you forward to be remembered. > > Military success – i.e. William the Conqueror > Political success – i.e. Caesar > Brutal leadership – i.e. Attila The Hun Odd that you separate those three; I think those are all just examples of the simple archetype “Success as an emperor”. ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2011, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-person-alive-today-will-be-remembered-1000-years-from-now/592402/83 "2011-08-12T10:17:51Z")
> [@Hogfather65](#): > > Looking at some of the past ‘common knowledge’ people it seems there are mainly 3 classes that will put you forward to be remembered. > > Military success – i.e. William the Conqueror > Political success – i.e. Caesar > Brutal leadership – i.e. Attila The Hun > > So who would you say would meet any of these points. > > Military success – i.e. No idea – could not name any military leader alive at the present > Political success – i.e. Margaret Thatcher – but who knows > Brutal leadership – i.e. Saddam Hussein (not alive today but the most recent that I can think of) You’re forgetting “entertainers” Also, Saddam will be forgotten faster than the next generation. He’s literally nobody, in a historical “in the public consciousness” sense. ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2011, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-person-alive-today-will-be-remembered-1000-years-from-now/592402/84 "2011-08-12T10:48:30Z")
> [@Namkcalb](#): > > Seriously though, I don’t think he’s that well known now, so it’s unlikely he’ll be remembered then. Neither is James Watson. However, they are both pioneers in their field, so are likely to be remembered for a long time. They are names that may be taught to school-children in the future. ---
**Author:** ![aerodave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f08c70/32.png) [@aerodave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aerodave)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2011, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-person-alive-today-will-be-remembered-1000-years-from-now/592402/85 "2011-08-12T16:08:53Z")
> [@Mosier](#): > > I think our best chance for getting someone remembered for a thousand years is in the sciences. We’re THIS CLOSE to serious scientific breakthroughs that will significantly improve the human condition. The problem with the sciences is that as time goes on, breakthroughs are less and less often made in huge jumps by individuals. We’ve moved into an era where teams of researchers—or distributed masses of competing researchers—move things along incrementally. The earth-shattering discoveries that are indelibly attached to one name just don’t happen anymore. All the low-hanging fruit is gone. Einstein may well be the last singular scientist to be broadly famous for a period well after his death, like Newton before. I disagree with the suggestion of Hawking above. As much as I love and respect Hawking, I just don’t think he’s made the kind of turn-the-world-upside-down contributions that mean real immortality. The only reason he’s famous outside his own field is for being “that scientist in the wheelchair”. I hate to say that, but it’s true. The other thing that makes this game hard to play is that sometimes the types of contributions that make someone legendary in history aren’t appreciated until well after the fact. I think you could name many examples of people whose legacies are known to everyone now—hundreds or thousands of years later—but who were relatively unknown in their own lifetime. Was Gutenberg a household name in the 15th century? If that kind of immortality can develop well after the fact, we are even less able to speculate on who from today may be important to people in the distant future. ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2011, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-person-alive-today-will-be-remembered-1000-years-from-now/592402/86 "2011-08-12T16:10:04Z")
I think Armstrong will be remembered. Obama maybe. But would like to go a little further down the road of " general public". Founders of nations stand a good chance. I am not a student of history but I can name people lime Abel Tasman ( who has a national park named after him ) James cook and te rapruha from My history. And no reason they won’t still be remembered in 1000 years. I could I Imagine Mexico and the us merging in the next 100 years and the first president being remembered. ---
**Author:** ![JBDivmstr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b4bc9f/32.png) [@JBDivmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBDivmstr)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2011, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-person-alive-today-will-be-remembered-1000-years-from-now/592402/87 "2011-08-12T16:16:48Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > Ron Popeil. Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!..snicker…snort… wheeze…cough… 😛 Now that’s funny! 😃 And probably spot on, correct! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2011, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-person-alive-today-will-be-remembered-1000-years-from-now/592402/88 "2011-08-12T16:30:45Z")
Anyone who has a standard named for them will certainly still come up in conversation: Georg Ohm Max Planck Amedeo Avogadro James Watt Alessandro Volta Lord Kelvin Anders Celsius etc. And, of course, Keith Moon. ---
**Author:** ![randomface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5fc32e/32.png) [@randomface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randomface)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2011, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-person-alive-today-will-be-remembered-1000-years-from-now/592402/89 "2011-08-12T16:57:52Z")
If only one president makes the list 1000 years from now, I think it would be Truman, not Obama. The only reason he might be remembered is for the atomic bomb. I know he’s not alive today, but he’s at least from the last 50 years. ---
**Author:** ![pancakes3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@pancakes3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pancakes3)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2011, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-person-alive-today-will-be-remembered-1000-years-from-now/592402/90 "2011-08-12T17:04:48Z")
> [@randomface](#): > > If only one president makes the list 1000 years from now, I think it would be Truman, not Obama. The only reason he might be remembered is for the atomic bomb. I know he’s not alive today, but he’s at least from the last 50 years. washington as the founder lincoln as the emancipator FDR as the wartime president GW analogous to Romulus, Lincoln analogous to Czar Alex II who freed the serfs, and FDR as Richard the Lionhearted in a wheelchair. all have a better case than truman imo. We know a surprising amount of Roman Emperors and British Monarchs. It’s not too crazy to think that presidents will hold the same kind of cache even if their terms are limited to 4-8 year reigns. ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2011, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-person-alive-today-will-be-remembered-1000-years-from-now/592402/91 "2011-08-12T17:11:16Z")
> [@Indistinguishable](#): > > King Cnut and Edward the Confessor don’t count, because I know nothing about them. 🙂 (In fairness, I suspect this is a British vs. American divide, I seem to recall some British school survey, where they were pulling a blank on Winston Churchill and Margret Thatcher, so I suspect King Cnut and Edward the Confessor wouldn’t do well in England either. ---
**Author:** ![Blaster\_Master](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cab0a1/32.png) [@Blaster\_Master](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blaster_Master)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2011, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-person-alive-today-will-be-remembered-1000-years-from-now/592402/92 "2011-08-12T17:34:29Z")
Frankly, I think this is a difficult question to answer because it’s usually people who are associated with significant events and the significance of events depends heavily on context. I’d actually say we’re probably in a bit of a historical lull, with a lot of the significant “recent” events being decades in the past at this point. And, of course, there could easily be someone alive who hasn’t done their significant deeds yet, or whose deeds only seem great in retrospect. That said, I think that most historical figures end up being political leaders and they’re the easiest to guess because historical events are easily definable, but even that is difficult. Do we have WW3 looming in the next decade or two? If so, people who did significant things to lead to them are alive now, as in recent or near future US presidents, some Arab leader, some Chinese leader… but that’s only if a typical sort of scenario plays out. OTOH, current turmoil could settle out pretty evenly and all of those leaders would qualify as answers to difficult trivia questions. Artists are even more difficult to identify. There’s constantly new fads and movements that get enormously popular but we have no idea how long that will last. I could see some of the large contributers to, say, Rock being remembered a thousand years from now if the genre remains popular for a long time, or it could quickly be usurped by something completely different and be as bizarre to them as it would be for us to name any musicians from a thousand years ago. And, sure, there’s a lot more people alive today than at any point in the past, but that just means that someone has to do something that much more meaningful to stand out of the crowd. A thousand years ago, there were fewer people so there were fewer countries and fewer leaders and the leaders had longer reigns and often more power, so they have greater ability over longer periods of time to have impact. Anyway, if I were to take a guess, I think my best guess is at a musician. I think with growing technology, electronic music will probably continue to rise in popularity and, barring an apocalyptic event, will probably remain popular for a long time, so I’d think a big name in that genre as a “definer” could easily be remembered. Another guess would be that the whole Middle-East, terrorism, invasions/occupations, and of course all the economy problems right now could potentially escalate into a major war, possibly worse than WW2 with the proliferation of nuclear technology, so major players in that could also potentially be remembered. Depending on how it players out, I could see Bush or Obama or one of the next presidents being seen as a major player in creating that conflict; I don’t see any other living president as remotely having a chance at that “honor”. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2011, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-person-alive-today-will-be-remembered-1000-years-from-now/592402/93 "2011-08-12T17:45:12Z")
The only ones widely remembered from this time will have been remembered by being the subjects of great literature and art centuries from now. So it might be someone seen now as unimportant. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2011, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-person-alive-today-will-be-remembered-1000-years-from-now/592402/94 "2011-08-12T17:53:10Z")
The Wyld Stallyns. Be excellent to each other. (Air guitar) ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2011, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-person-alive-today-will-be-remembered-1000-years-from-now/592402/95 "2011-08-12T18:07:43Z")
> [@Hennessy](#): > > As long as information is not lost, a lot of people will be remembered… ? I don’t think remembered is a good term but I understand what the OP means… > > If basketball is still around (it will be), then Michael Jordan… > > Anyone with a statue? Then Rocky Balboa should be remembered since he has a statue in Philadelphia. 😃 Then there’s the Bronze Fonz in Milwaukee, Bob Newhart in Chicago, Ralph Kramden (Jackie Gleason) in New York,and Elizabeth Montgomery in Salem, Massachusetts. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2011, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-person-alive-today-will-be-remembered-1000-years-from-now/592402/96 "2011-08-12T18:25:54Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Then there’s the Bronze Fonz in Milwaukee, Bob Newhart in Chicago, Ralph Kramden (Jackie Gleason) in New York,and Elizabeth Montgomery in Salem, Massachusetts. Huh? I’ve lived in Chicago for more than 25 years. Where is the bronze Bob? ---
**Author:** ![Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Living_Well_Is_Best_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2011, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-person-alive-today-will-be-remembered-1000-years-from-now/592402/97 "2011-08-12T18:29:12Z")
Sarah Palin ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2011, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-person-alive-today-will-be-remembered-1000-years-from-now/592402/98 "2011-08-12T18:38:28Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > Huh? I’ve lived in Chicago for more than 25 years. Where is the bronze Bob? I’m not familiar with Chicago, but Wikipedia says it’s on Navy Pier. > **[TV Land](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TV_Land#TV_Land_statues_of_TV_icons)** > > TV Land is an American pay television channel owned by Paramount Skydance Corporation through its networks division's MTV Entertainment Group. It was originally launched as Nick at Nite's TV Land as a spin-off of the Nick at Nite programing block consisting exclusively of classic television shows. The channel now airs a combination of recent and classic television series (ranging from the 1960s to the 2020s), as well as limited theatrically released movies. In the 2010s, the network aired ori... ---
**Author:** ![Quintas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/48db29/32.png) [@Quintas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quintas)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2011, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-person-alive-today-will-be-remembered-1000-years-from-now/592402/99 "2011-08-12T18:51:03Z")
I think we need to define what is meant by ‘remembered’. Remembered by the average guy on the street? Remembered by the armchair history buff with a decent knowledge of general world history? Remembered by professional historians specializing in our time period? ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2011, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-person-alive-today-will-be-remembered-1000-years-from-now/592402/100 "2011-08-12T18:51:35Z")
> [@Mosier](#): > > It’s possible the Beatles will be remembered in a thousand years, but I would certainly not count on it. I think you’re right that the Beatles are the artists most likely to be remembered from our time, but I agree that they’re not great candidates either. > [@Hogfather65](#): > > Looking at some of the past ‘common knowledge’ people it seems there are mainly 3 classes that will put you forward to be remembered. > > Military success – i.e. William the Conqueror > Political success – i.e. Caesar > Brutal leadership – i.e. Attila The Hun > > So who would you say would meet any of these points. > > Military success – i.e. No idea – could not name any military leader alive at the present > Political success – i.e. Margaret Thatcher – but who knows > Brutal leadership – i.e. Saddam Hussein (not alive today but the most recent that I can think of) I think that there’s a real case to be made for inventors who something truly revolutionary. Johannes Gutenberg is a pretty good example; he’s not universally known, but he’s still got pretty good name recognition. Archimedes is pretty recognizable, too. I’m not sure who the modern counterpart would be. Likewise, people who found important religions get remembered. Jesus of Nazareth and Paul of Tarsus; Abraham, Jacob, and Moses; Martin Luther and John Calvin; Mohammad; Siddhartha Guatama; Confucius\*; Lao-Tzu, and so on. I have my doubts that L. Ron Hubbard will be remembered as anything but a footnote a thousand years from now, but if another major world religion is founded in the near term, that person will be remembered. \*I know, it’s not really a religion. Still, I felt like he belonged in the list. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-person-alive-today-will-be-remembered-1000-years-from-now/592402.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-person-alive-today-will-be-remembered-1000-years-from-now/592402.md?page=6)