This discussion reminded me of this thread on soc.history.what-if, concerning the fates of various historical figures transplanted to modern times. Whether it’s Shakespeare as a Hollywood screenwriter, Caligula as an animal rights advocate, or Hadrian as mayor of San Francisco, the ideas were interesting and frequently humorous.
So what do you think would become of various historical figures if they were transplanted to the year 2003, given a crash course in modern life, and set loose upon an unsuspecting world? I, myself, could see Nero joining some sort of '80s hair-band myself, ala White Snake.
Hey, Nichol_storm, your first link is wrong. Maybe a mod could correct it. Do you mean the Mozart thread?
I’d think Hadrian would have quite a career in the U.N. or some other international organization.
Cicero would be a lawyer-politician. Oh, he already was so in his day…
Julius Caesar: difficult: he was far too talented and ambitious for a subordinate role, but was sensitive to societal constraints. I guess he’d have to settle for President, even with the constitutional restrictions.
Abelard would be a PhD’d society personality, aiming for a talk show.
Polycarp would be a well-respected SDMB poster
Mohamed: motivational speaker?
Catherine the Great would be in her place as CEO of a major industrial conglomerate.
-Peter the Great could be an engineer.
Bach might be a fine computer programmer.
Mozart would be a Kurt Cobain type rock musician.
This is fun. I sure hope I haven’t offended anyone with the above late-night and slightly drunk suggestions.
President Nixon said that had he been born later, he would have liked to have become a rapper.
And he had a point. Not only was he musically inclined, but he and John F. Kennedy could have had a Tupac vs. Biggy Smalls-style feud, with Tricky D. representing the west coast and The Notorious JFK on the east coast. The latter, of course, not only lived like a rapper, with all of his womanizing, but died like one too (shot while riding in the back of a Lincoln).
I read this bit of hilarity in a book called “Bland Ambition,” which contained biographies of every Vice-President (as of 1992), from Adams to Quayle. I highly recommend it.
Cardinal writes: “Now, I’d love to see a cite for THAT.”
Google “Richard Nixon Library California”
The exact quote is: “My mother felt that I had some aptitude for music. And when I was seven years old I started to take music lessons from my uncle on the Crown piano. I also learned to play the violin, the clarinet, the saxophone and the accordion. I’ve often thought that if there had been a good rap group around in those days, I might have chosen a career in music instead of politics.”
I think just about every great musician and composer would be in essentially the same business they were before. Imagine how pissed the reborn Mozart would be, having his next composition panned as “a cheap Mozart-styled knockoff”.
If Sam Adams were alive today, he’d have been dead since Waco.
If Elvis were alive today, he’s still be Elvis, but making most of his money hawking weight loss programs and rehab centers.
[sup]van Gogh as a plastic surgeon.[/sup][/ul]