
Who will be remembered in 1,000 years? - lohfu
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20171220-how-to-be-remembered-in-1000-years
======
hyperpallium
It seems a safe bet that the people who have _already_ been remembered for
thousands of years will continue to be remembered for a thousand more: Jesus,
Euclid, Aristotle, Socrates, etc.

But as for contemporaries, there's two big differences: a great many more
people, and increasing pace of achievements and change - and both will
hopefully continue. So, it's possible no one alive today will be remembered in
1000 years. Maybe things done in 100 years will push them all out of the
public consciousness.

On the other hand, it's much easier to discover fundamental truths, of
enduring consequence, in the early phases.

Finally, it matter how consequential the achievememt is. It's hard to know
what will be used in 1000 years, and what turned out to be consequential.
Perhaps we don't see its significance today.

Notable achievements might be: understanding/creating life (from scratch, not
just pokimg memory locations); understanding/creating intelligence;
understanding/curing physical disease; understanding/curing mental disease;
inventing FTL travel; establishing a growing non-earth colony (note: who
established the vikings colony on Greenland that was abandoned after 100
years?); first contact (that leads to growing trade); modifying human nature;
founder of a new and better approach to community (or exposition of it);
whoever blows up the world.

There's a limit to how many people can be remembered in the public
consciousness. Newtom amd Einstein will be remembered by math/science
historians... but will anyone else, if there are many of the above
acheivements? (or ones I haven't and can't imagine...)

~~~
mythrwy
Agreed. Another limitation to contemporary people being remembered far into
the future is it's currently hard to believably claim coming back from the
dead or turning water into wine. And it's easy to find out if a person
plagiarized an essay or harassed a co-worker. Thus the era of legendary heros
may be largely over.

~~~
hyperpallium
That's interesting, and "no man is a prophet in their home town". With social
media, perhaps everyone knows you as a child/teenager. OTOH there are PR firms
who manage one's online presence.

Yet, someone like Elon Musk, though highly capable, also gets credit for the
all the work of his teams - at least in the public eye. And if "he" saves the
world from climate change, AND "he" colonizes Mars, perhaps that's a greater
miracle than magic catering. i.e. He could be a legendary hero.

Also, I'm not sure how important Jesus's miracles were for the success of
christianity. Of course, the PR helped, but I think it's more that his
teachings worked better for city-living than the alternatives. Today, most
secular societies have incorporated his ideas. (They are "Christian" is the
sense that their economic policy might be "Keynesian"). Though he wasn't the
only one with such ideas (e.g. Buddha), I think that's the main reason for his
profound influence, and this influence is the main reason he is remembered.

I mean, many prophets performed "miracles" but not all are remembered.

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PacketPaul
Think of who is remembered from the years around 1000 AD. Basically war
generals and scientist. So my top contenders are Einstein and Hitler.

~~~
goatlover
Famous philosophers, writers, painters, inventors, explorers, religious
visionaries and rulers are also remembered over millennia, as long as
something about them is transmitted faithfully to succeeding generations.

~~~
Koshkin
Which means that in the future it will be pretty much everyone who, say, owns
a Facebook account.

~~~
craftyguy
I doubt most of our digital records will make it that long. They are far too
fragile.

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adrianN
Hopefully in 1000 years we will have augmented ourselves sufficiently that
"forgetting" is not something that happens anymore.

~~~
abootstrapper
Forgetting can be a wonderful blessing.

~~~
mkez00
Yes. The reason why the decade one grew up in usually gets labeled "the good
ol days" by said individual.

~~~
coldtea
Another reason is many things always going downhill, and people remembering
them, while younger people grew up already familiar with the decline.

That's not very different a story than the continuous progress myth, just has
an opposite sign.

Fact is, some eras progress for the better, and others regress (Weimar
Republic, the fall of Rome, and countless other examples). And that's overall.
In specific things, it can vary as well in opposite direction to the overall
trend.

And long periods are relatively stagnant, such that people for centuries on
end, or even millennia, live more or less the same (e.g. most rural areas in
Europe between 400 A.D and 1900 A.D.), and few speak about the "good old days"
there.

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electic
It's a bit simpler than this article outlines. How much you are remembered is
based on what your accomplishments/stores/press/etc are recorded in.

For example, if you were a world renowned inventor and everyone wrote and
communicated about you via clay pots then your memory is only carried on as a
function of how many clay pot readers there are. Since all clay pot readers
are dead and the medium itself is dead, your memory is dead. This is assuming
no one transcribed the text from clay pots to whatever new communication
medium came next.

~~~
alexasmyths
Ramses was probably only recorded on stone tablets for quite some time, they
stopped that a while back and he is still remembered :)

~~~
electic
He is remembered because people took the tablets and transcribed it from
medium to medium. Wrote books about it. Made movies about it. And created
internet articles about it. If no one moved it from tablets to these new
mediums, he would not have been remembered.

Tutankhamun is a great example of this. His name was forgotten. His existence
forgotten until they discovered his tomb, read the tablets, and then
transcribed knowledge of his life to the modern medium. His memory now exists
because we transcribe and communicate this information today.

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collyw
You reckon the human race will make it that far?

~~~
firefoxd
Why not?

~~~
collyw
The way we are wrecking the environment. Possibility of nuclear war.

~~~
sewer_bird
A total extinction event is pretty unlikely: a nuclear war could perhaps end
our civilization, but there'd still be folks around, even if their lives were
harder. It's believed that we've already as a species gone through a very
small population bottleneck, and homo sapiens can probably survive a nuclear
war of even the worst kind.

That said, a thousand years is a long time to research a Death Star I suppose.

~~~
Fej
A total thermonuclear war would crater most of the Earth and irradiate the
rest. Such a scenario wouldn't really be survivable. No arable land left.

~~~
goatlover
No, it wouldn't come close to doing that. It would flatten and burn cities,
military bases, and missile silos that were targeted, and irradiate places
downwind. But there's much more land that would not be targeted and isn't near
those sites.

For example, what would be the reason to nuke the Amazon, the Arctic, or the
Himalayas? How much of Africa would be targeted? What percentage of the US
Midwest or Siberia do you suppose would actually be irradiated? What about
islands in the Pacific? Is Easter Island going to dosed in lethal radiation
from fallout tens of thousands of miles away?

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amriksohata
The sheer ignorance of the title is astounding as if to suggest we will know,
entire cultures have been wiped out in the last 1000 years so who knows what
would happen in the next 1000, couple nuclear wars would wipe out remembering
many names mentioned above.

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ukulele
I'd argue that the best chance for anyone reading this to be remembered in
1000 years is to be the first person to do X on Mars, where X is probably "set
foot".

That'd get you in the history books for anything related to space travel for
generations to come.

~~~
baddox
Maybe not, if humans have set foot on a bunch of other celestial bodies in
1000 years. In that case, perhaps only Armstrong would be in history books as
the first human to set foot on a body other than Earth.

~~~
EGreg
Mars is the first planet we would set foot on outside Earth.

The moon is nice but we are far more likely to actually colonize Mars first.

In short - it will mark the ACTUAL expansion having started. Who woudn't
remember that?

~~~
nostrademons
No guarantee that the definition of "planet" stays the same for 1000 years.
Hell, it's already changed once in my lifetime.

If we end up colonizing other worlds, it's likely that future space colonists
will regard a "planet" as any habitable world, whether it's actually a planet,
planetesimal, moon, or asteroid. Armstrong's accomplishment would stand in the
record books in that case.

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sunstone
Trump will be remembered as prominent political figure? Surely not. Not him
and not Bush. He'll sink beneath the waves of history in less than 3 decades
unless he gets impeached and has to resign.

~~~
jeff_petersen
Bush and Trump both will be remembered for a long time. We’ve only had 45
presidents, the English learn about god knows how many insignificant kings in
school, so the notion that two of your least favorite presidents will be
forgotten in short order seems to be wishful thinking.

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abritinthebay
Depends what you mean by remembered. History will record rulers but is that
_really_ remembered? Feels like it’s more a footnote.

I’d argue that _remembered_ means something... more.

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foobaw
"Simple" solutions: build a time machine or cure every cancer. Name these
devices after your name. With all the money you'll gain, name a bunch of
cities and islands after your name.

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thirstysusrando
Mathematicians are immortal.

~~~
TheGrassyKnoll
Yes, if there's any kind of educated people left, guys like Pythagoras, Euler
should be known.

~~~
sd8dgf8ds8g8dsg
Well, Pythagoras should maybe not be remembered, since he didn't actually
discover the theorem.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pythagorean_theorem#History](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pythagorean_theorem#History)

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scotty79
I'd say Freud. Because he's still remembered and cited despite immense
stupidity of his ideas about how human mind works.

I believe stupidity can last thousand years.

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platz
We'll all be blown to smithereens by then, my friend

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saasdev
I think the only ones you can safely say are Biblical figures who have already
stood the test of time for thousands of years.

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kwoff
Probably valueable to consider who will be remembering at that time, since
that impacts who is remembered.

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leashless
Stallman.

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forkLding
Yeah, that does make sense, I think even Steve Jobs and Bill Gates will be
remembered in the same manner as Henry Ford and Andrew Carnegie where the name
is familiar but doesn't ring a bell whereas a contemporary of that time, a
modern-day Mark Twain will still be remembered.

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louithethrid
Why would somebody remember Nelson Mandela? South africa is a legacy of ashes.
Martin Luther King, yes. Gandi, yes. But the ANC saw to this ones monument
deteriorating.

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howdy999
Kardashians

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Semiapies
Judging by the "great men" of the past we remember?

Mass-murder a lot of people.

~~~
aisofteng
A moments reflection shows this to be hyperbolic and cynical.

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valuearb
Arnold will.

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Iwan-Zotow
Putin

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vadimberman
The pattern is:

* politicians

* travelers

* scientists

In many cases, their names are attached to something that sticks around:
locations, laws (of nature or in legal sense), inventions.

Musicians, actors, sports people need not apply. What writers wanted to say
will not make sense in a thousand years, with some minor exceptions. Painters
may be remembered by experts and some art lovers, which is not a lot.

Religious figures, hopefully, will lose their relevance.

~~~
ars
> Religious figures, hopefully, will lose their relevance.

People have been saying that for thousands of years. Hasn't happened yet, and
isn't going to later.

That's essentially what the story of Hanukkah is all about. The Assyrian
Greeks wanted the Jewish culture, but not the religion. Instead they got a
religion that persisted despite pretty much the worst humanity has to offer -
and has flourished despite it all.

If they couldn't do it, no one in the future can either (and science was just
as important to them as it is to us, so don't try to use that as a "this time
it's different").

It's also _really_ not a nice sentiment. Virtually every single thing you
consider a positive can be traced to ideas that came from religion. (Charity,
helping your neighbor, community, law, proportional punishment (i.e. [the
value of an] eye for an eye, instead of life for an eye), praising being a
good person instead of a powerful person, the desire to give life meaning
instead of hedonism - the list is almost endless.)

~~~
sp527
It's shockingly ignorant and quite offensive to assert that fundamental tenets
of morality and ethics originated in or necessarily had to be promulgated by
religious doctrine.

~~~
lamarpye
Why? I don't find it offensive. I don't you can maintain morality long-term
without religion.

~~~
8note
Religions don't impose morality on societies; they're a marketplace competing
to communicate the society's morals. when society decided human sacrifices
weren't moral, they ditched those religions in favour of ones without human
sacrifice.

it doesn't have to be a relgion that communicates what the morals are; some
other structure can do that.

morality itself seems to be good for societies ability to reproduce, so it'll
probably stick around regardless.

------
EGreg
Chuck Norris

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knocte
Satoshi

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interfixus
Surprised nobody has mentioned Elon Musk yet. The best, and possibly only,
contemporary bet for lasting fame.

~~~
cooper12
_After Musk launches his Tesla into Mars orbit_

Man I can see Musk one of the first people on Mars, stays there for like a
year, no one knows what the fuck he's been really doing there, people start
speculating what he can possibly be doing. He stays quiet, we look through the
Hubble Telescope and see him driving around jumping ramps and shit in his
Tesla.

After a year, he comes back.

Everyone goes crazy, the man who went to Mars is back on Earth. Throws huge
parties. He says he will take a few people back to Mars. Takes 100 girls, goes
to Mars. He instantly starts colonizing Mars(he wastes no time) making a
civilization, after 50 or so years of doing this, the population is up to
100,000… he dies from old age, on his deathbed his last words are, "don't
stop, we came this far, I believe in all of you" His face after his death goes
everywhere, on statues, people crying, the God of Mars is dead. Tesla renamed
to Musk, he becomes like what Kim Jon wants to become like in North Korea
there. Everyone talks about him as a God, a legend, everyone working to make
his dream of Mars becoming like Earth and fully self sustaining. Science is in
full force researching shit and what not. 100 years go by and Mars is advanced
asfuck, everything digital, crazy tech everywhere. Earth and Mars have a
trading Post and shit, sending shit back and forth, it's like two countries
now, you either live on Mars or Earth, but things start getting sour, there's
shit like racism and stuff that start to develop with the two planets. People
calling Mars people MuskCunts, saying Earth is better and shit, fuck the
"redpeople" starts a war between planets. Start nuking shit and what not
(literal world war) everything is going to shit, like history repeating itself
from Earth. This goes on for many years.

The 1000th year anniversary of Tesla rolls by, a press conference is scheduled
by Musk Inc...there hasn't been one since Musk was alive...... Everyone is
waiting and nervous in anticipation of what the fuck it could be... The day
comes by... The two world's watching the conference live, 100 million viewers.
A computer turns on the live stream... Musk face appears... "War.... War never
changes....... Untill now.... I have risen from the dead, and back to restore
world's order. (THIS MOFO PLANTED HIS BRAIN INTO ONE OF HIS DEEP LEARNING
ROBOTS, WOW THE FIRST TIME EVER DONE, BEFORE HE DIED, HOLY FUCK EVERYONE IS
THINKING OMG WHAT A FUCKING LEGEND, WOW. "All your dead relatives and friends
and everyone you knew has had their brains transported as well, and there is a
new planet that will launch in an hour where everyone will be back alive and
living on this planet, their brains and body's have been fermenting and being
developed but they will be ready in an hour and you can go visit them and
shit. Everyone goes FUCKING CRAZY! wttfff everyone is now praising musk, both
planets cheer and go apeshit celebrating together, people laugh, people cry,
world Peace becomes a thing, the new planet has enough room on it to transfer
everyone on both planets there and everyone can live there at peace together.
World hunger is eliminated, the new planet also had lab grown meat that was
being grown for the last 100 years, being stored for this moment, all free.
Everyone teleports there in an hour (he also invented the teleportation
device, never before seen too) automatically and it becomes the happiest time
in human history.

~~~
zakoud
How was this downvoted, finally some good OC ?!

~~~
cooper12
Not OC, sorry to disappoint:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/copypasta/comments/7lvrm9/elon_musk...](https://www.reddit.com/r/copypasta/comments/7lvrm9/elon_musk_the_great/)

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rurban
Einstein (relativity, nuclear), Heisenberg (uncertainty principle), Obama (for
his color).

I would place Bezos before Musk, because Musk risks too much and is not really
that successful. But even Bezos will be forgotten. Who remembers the founder
of the richest and then most important company of the world for centuries, the
Dutch East India Company (VOC)? Johan van Oldenbarnevelt? The worlds first
bond and stocks sensation. Any rubber baron? None. Only those who wrote about
them became famous. Literature.

~~~
PacketPaul
No way Obama is remembered. He is too insignificant. He did noting that will
impact life in 1000 years. You are viewing the future with 21st century rose
colored glasses.

~~~
actuallyalys
I don't think he'll be a household name, but he seems likely to be remembered
among students and scholars of American history.

~~~
mythrwy
Along with George Bush. Kind of like Emperor Cladius.

And they'll likely bore the shit out of poor first year students lecturing on
"By the way, Obama's father was from Kenya!" and only some of them will
remember it for the test.

