Re: Vote Linus for Person of the Century
George Bonser wrote: > Don't even think Linus should BE the person of the century. That honor > probably goes to Thomas Edison. We owe our current culture and style of > living to that guy. His experiments with his lightbulb led to the > discovery of the "Edison effect" which led DeForest to do some more > experiments which led to the Vacuum Tube which led to the Transistor, > which lead to the IC Chip. Not only was Edison's work responsible for > laying the ground work for radio and television, he also played vital > roles in bringing motion pictures and recorded music to the public. If I was going to vote for anyone from a technological field, my vote would go to Tesla. Edison was an exploiter of other people's work and in invetrate political game-player when it came to suppressing other technologies than the ones that he had the rights to. But I, myself, am going to vote for Gandhi. The world is larger than the United States, and his example is the one that has impressed me most. If we're talking pure *impact* value, of course, it's hard to go past Lenin/Stalin, Mao and Hitler ali.
Re: Vote Linus for Person of the Century
I sense another inminent Holy war comming :( Richard Harran wrote: > Oh, goodie! A religious discussion! > > Kent West wrote: > > > > At 04:13 PM 3/5/1999 +, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > >Kevin Traas schrieb: > > >> > > >> Hey, Linus Torvalds isn't even in the top 20! Let's change that! ;-) > > >> > > >> >Time Magazine is allowing us to vote for Time Magazines > > >> >Person of the Century, which will be in their December 1999 issue. > > >> > To vote go to: > > >> >http://www.pathfinder.com/time/time100/toppersonmain.html > > > > > > > > >just did, but is this list not moderated, Jesus Christ is so far I now, > > >from a different century and he is on top?
Re: Vote Linus for Person of the Century
On Sat, 6 Mar 1999, Frankie wrote: > True. I agree with you about electricity. It has made a HUGE impact on > our lives. So, I nominate gallileo, because (if I'm wrong, subsitute > some ridiculously ancient bod that experimented with electricity) he > messed about with electricity and frogs legs. This directly led to > further experimentation by a variety of scientists, (including Edison) > which ultimately led to a complete change in our [the western world's] > lifestyles. Uhh... the name is Galvini, I think. > > Oh OK, it was for this century. yes, it has to be Edison - he is the > earliest well known and significant (and american) electricity > experimenter in this century. Best choose him. Not the first, but the > first you could think of. Tesla had just as much influence, if not more. John von Neumann is another name which might occur-- inventer of stored program digital computers (among other things). And George Turing. Overall, I'd pick Lenin or Adolph Hitler for Man of the Century, jowever. (I assume we're talking about influence rather than "niceness"). -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] Mike Shupp California State University, Northridge Graduate Student, Dept. of Anthropology http://www.csun.edu/~ms44278/index.htm
Re: Vote Linus for Person of the Century
Branden Robinson wrote: > > > Nope I don't think I will vote for any person on the basis of > > scientific or technical merit. A more global view is required. > > I was thinking of RMS, too. LOL - Spoken like a true Debian-ite. I'd put RMS #2, right after Mr. T. > "There is no gravity in space." > "Then how could astronauts walk around on the Moon?" > "Because they were wearing heavy boots." I always look forward to your mailings, not only for the excellent information, but also for the amusing .sigs. Kirk
Re: Vote Linus for Person of the Century
Frankie wrote: > > George Bonser wrote: > > > > On Fri, 5 Mar 1999 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > > > > just did, but is this list not moderated, Jesus Christ is so far I now, > > > from a different century and he is on top? > > > > > > Matth > > > > Don't even think Linus should BE the person of the century. That honor > > probably goes to Thomas Edison. We owe our current culture and style of > > living to that guy. His experiments with his lightbulb led to the > > discovery of the "Edison effect" which led DeForest to do some more > > experiments which led to the Vacuum Tube which led to the Transistor, > > which lead to the IC Chip. Not only was Edison's work responsible for > > laying the ground work for radio and television, he also played vital > > roles in bringing motion pictures and recorded music to the public. > > > > True. I agree with you about electricity. It has made a HUGE impact on > our lives. So, I nominate gallileo, because (if I'm wrong, subsitute > some ridiculously ancient bod that experimented with electricity) he > messed about with electricity and frogs legs. This directly led to > further experimentation by a variety of scientists, (including Edison) > which ultimately led to a complete change in our [the western world's] > lifestyles. > That doesn't sound right. Wasn't it Galvani, perhaps? WRT Linus, let's save him or Stallman for the 21st Century. They'll still be around, God willing, and I suspect their impact will be far greater then. In fact, I suspect it will be the century in which issues of information propagation/replication/ownership become recognized as overridingly serious (like fightin'-and-dyin' serious).
Re: Vote Linus for Person of the Century
Richard Lyon <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > > > Oh, goodie! A religious discussion! > > > > OK I'm voting for Adam. Without him we all would be dust. Or a bunch of cheeky monkeys... -- -Mike Horansky, Unix Systems Support [EMAIL PROTECTED] "Conformity is everything--isn't it?" OPINIONS EXPRESSED BY ME ARE NOT NECESSARILY SHARED BY MY EMPLOYERS.
Re: Vote Linus for Person of the Century
George Bonser wrote: > > On Fri, 5 Mar 1999 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > > just did, but is this list not moderated, Jesus Christ is so far I now, > > from a different century and he is on top? > > > > Matth > > Don't even think Linus should BE the person of the century. That honor > probably goes to Thomas Edison. We owe our current culture and style of > living to that guy. His experiments with his lightbulb led to the > discovery of the "Edison effect" which led DeForest to do some more > experiments which led to the Vacuum Tube which led to the Transistor, > which lead to the IC Chip. Not only was Edison's work responsible for > laying the ground work for radio and television, he also played vital > roles in bringing motion pictures and recorded music to the public. > True. I agree with you about electricity. It has made a HUGE impact on our lives. So, I nominate gallileo, because (if I'm wrong, subsitute some ridiculously ancient bod that experimented with electricity) he messed about with electricity and frogs legs. This directly led to further experimentation by a variety of scientists, (including Edison) which ultimately led to a complete change in our [the western world's] lifestyles. Oh OK, it was for this century. yes, it has to be Edison - he is the earliest well known and significant (and american) electricity experimenter in this century. Best choose him. Not the first, but the first you could think of. :-) (no offence intended) > Linus Torvalds is probablt important but nowhere near THE most important. > Lets try to keep some perspective. > > -- > Unsubscribe? mail -s unsubscribe [EMAIL PROTECTED] < /dev/null -- Confession is good for the soul only in the sense that a tweed coat is good for dandruff. --Peter de Vries http://www.skunkpussy.freeserve.co.uk - Drum'n'Bass music, samples and links. ICQ://25576761begin:vcard n:;Frankie x-mozilla-html:TRUE url:http://www.skunkpussy.freeserve.co.uk adr:;;;Birmingham;;;UK version:2.1 email;internet:[EMAIL PROTECTED] title:Mr x-mozilla-cpt:;-8160 fn:Frankie end:vcard
Re: Vote Linus for Person of the Century
On Fri, Mar 05, 1999 at 09:50:30AM -0800, George Bonser wrote: > Don't even think Linus should BE the person of the century. That honor > probably goes to Thomas Edison. We owe our current culture and style of > living to that guy. His experiments with his lightbulb led to the > discovery of the "Edison effect" which led DeForest to do some more > experiments which led to the Vacuum Tube which led to the Transistor, > which lead to the IC Chip. Not only was Edison's work responsible for > laying the ground work for radio and television, he also played vital > roles in bringing motion pictures and recorded music to the public. Hear, hear. Hamish -- Hamish Moffatt VK3TYD [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] Latest Debian packages at ftp://ftp.rising.com.au/pub/hamish. PGP#EFA6B9D5 CCs of replies from mailing lists are welcome. http://hamish.home.ml.org
Re: Vote Linus for Person of the Century- re: Edison
> I can think of no single individual that had as great an impact on the daily life of the entire world. Whatever we were to become in the 20th century, we would get there in the company of Edison. --- Although we may owe a lot to Edison, most of us choose to ignore what he really was. In many ways Edison was the Bill Gates of his time. His greatest invention was actually the modern industrial research laboratory (IE: invention factory). Edison suffered from a huge NIH syndrom. That's why he refused to switch to AC current. He was also a bigot. Those two failings caused him to reject Tesla and eventually be ousted from the Edison electric company by stockholders. (Resulting in the General Electric Company). His discovery of thermionic emission was useless to him because his was a dc world. (the only first use of the Edison Effect was for rectifiers). He nevertheless patented it around a device for measuring electric current. His thinking was, "I can't figure out a use for this, but I own it and if someone else figures out a use for it, they owe me!" Edison's use of patents follows the patern of huge corporations today. During the early days of the motion picture industry, Edison used a Microsoft-Mafia type pattern to attempt to control the industry forcing small firms out of bussiness. == Amateur Radio, when all else fails! http://www.qsl.net/wa2mze Debian Gnu Linux, Live Free or . _ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com
Re: Vote Linus for Person of the Century
True, it could be argued that all this did stem from Edison, but there have been a lot of other 'great' people inbetween. I don't think that Edison had any great concept of semiconductors, etc. However, I do agree that there are a lot of people who have had a much greater effect on this century than Linus - we've had two World Wars this century, and survived. I suspect that most people who are involved in this vote aren't going to remember anything much before Elvis! Rich George Bonser wrote: > > On Sat, 6 Mar 1999, Richard Lyon wrote: > > > > > Nope I don't think I will vote for any person on the basis of scientific or > > technical merit. A more global view is required. > > > > > > I was thinking more along cultural lines. If you look at the differences > between 19th century culture and life and that of the 20th century, I > think Edison's experiments are the difference. Forget the lightbulb, think > headlights ... movies, mp3, the entire entertainment industry (except for > theatre) of today and how that impacts our culture. It is who we are. > Without thermionic emission (the Edison effect) you would not have that > CRT you are staring at, a radio, an amplifier. All of these things > contribute to the daily life of all citizens in the developed and > developing world to a greater or lesser extent. > > I can think of no single individual that had as great an impact on the > daily life of the entire world. Whatever we were to become in the 20th > century, we would get there in the company of Edison. > > -- > Unsubscribe? mail -s unsubscribe [EMAIL PROTECTED] < /dev/null
Re: Vote Linus for Person of the Century
> Don't even think Linus should BE the person of the century. That honor > probably goes to Thomas Edison. We owe our current culture and style of If you want to go with the guy who had the biggest slam-bang effect on everything, it's either Oppenheimer or Truman. > living to that guy. His experiments with his lightbulb led to the > discovery of the "Edison effect" which led DeForest to do some more > experiments which led to the Vacuum Tube which led to the Transistor, > which lead to the IC Chip. Not only was Edison's work responsible for > laying the ground work for radio and television, he also played vital > roles in bringing motion pictures and recorded music to the public. > > Linus Torvalds is probablt important but nowhere near THE most important. > Lets try to keep some perspective. I look at what Linus (leaving Stallman vs. Linus out for the moment) instigated (notice I don't say *did*, but instigation is what every candidate gets credit for anyway) and I honestly feel that it is unique and important, perhaps uniquely so. GNU/Linux is far and away the largest example of purely voluntary collaboration in the history of the planet. I say 'purely voluntary' because the developers of GNU/Linux were not starving, fighting for their lives, or trying to get ahead in the economic rat race. Their only motive was and is the creation of a superior system for their own use. This modus operandi of want --> voluntary unselfish colaboration --> result without any other waste involved has proven remarkably and hearteningly succesful. > -- > Unsubscribe? mail -s unsubscribe [EMAIL PROTECTED] < /dev/null Britton Kerin
Re: Vote Linus for Person of the Century
On Sat, Mar 06, 1999 at 10:19:57PM +1100, Richard Lyon wrote: > Nope I don't think I will vote for any person on the basis of scientific or > technical merit. A more global view is required. I was thinking of RMS, too. -- G. Branden Robinson | "There is no gravity in space." Debian GNU/Linux | "Then how could astronauts walk around [EMAIL PROTECTED] | on the Moon?" cartoon.ecn.purdue.edu/~branden/ | "Because they were wearing heavy boots." pgpyA51Wwzv3p.pgp Description: PGP signature
Re: Vote Linus for Person of the Century
> Oh, goodie! A religious discussion! > OK I'm voting for Adam. Without him we all would be dust.
Re: Vote Linus for Person of the Century
> Don't even think Linus should BE the person of the century. That honor > probably goes to Thomas Edison. We owe our current culture and style of > living to that guy. His experiments with his lightbulb led to the > discovery of the "Edison effect" which led DeForest to do some more > experiments which led to the Vacuum Tube which led to the Transistor, > which lead to the IC Chip. Not only was Edison's work responsible for > laying the ground work for radio and television, he also played vital > roles in bringing motion pictures and recorded music to the public. > Nope I don't think I will vote for any person on the basis of scientific or technical merit. A more global view is required.
Re: Vote Linus for Person of the Century - EXTREMELY OFF TOPIC
On Fri, 5 Mar 1999, George Bonser wrote: >On Fri, 5 Mar 1999 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > >> just did, but is this list not moderated, Jesus Christ is so far I now, >> from a different century and he is on top? >> >> Matth > >Don't even think Linus should BE the person of the century. That honor >probably goes to Thomas Edison. We owe our current culture and style of >living to that guy. His experiments with his lightbulb led to the >discovery of the "Edison effect" which led DeForest to do some more >experiments which led to the Vacuum Tube which led to the Transistor, >which lead to the IC Chip. Not only was Edison's work responsible for >laying the ground work for radio and television, he also played vital >roles in bringing motion pictures and recorded music to the public. > >Linus Torvalds is probablt important but nowhere near THE most important. >Lets try to keep some perspective. This is why it's a vote rather than a consensus. (What about Thomas Edison's parents?) I'm all for giving the guy credit for what he DID... Michael Stenner Office Phone: 919-660-2513 Duke University, Dept. of Physics [EMAIL PROTECTED] Box 90305, Durham N.C. 27708-0305
Re: Vote Linus for Person of the Century
Oh, goodie! A religious discussion! Kent West wrote: > > At 04:13 PM 3/5/1999 +, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > >Kevin Traas schrieb: > >> > >> Hey, Linus Torvalds isn't even in the top 20! Let's change that! ;-) > >> > >> >Time Magazine is allowing us to vote for Time Magazines > >> >Person of the Century, which will be in their December 1999 issue. > >> > To vote go to: > >> >http://www.pathfinder.com/time/time100/toppersonmain.html > > > > > >just did, but is this list not moderated, Jesus Christ is so far I now, > >from a different century and he is on top? > > No, he only walked on this earth in a different century. But he's not > "from" a different century. > > -- > Unsubscribe? mail -s unsubscribe [EMAIL PROTECTED] < /dev/null
Re: Vote Linus for Person of the Century
At 04:13 PM 3/5/1999 +, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: >Kevin Traas schrieb: >> >> Hey, Linus Torvalds isn't even in the top 20! Let's change that! ;-) >> >> >Time Magazine is allowing us to vote for Time Magazines >> >Person of the Century, which will be in their December 1999 issue. >> > To vote go to: >> >http://www.pathfinder.com/time/time100/toppersonmain.html > > >just did, but is this list not moderated, Jesus Christ is so far I now, >from a different century and he is on top? No, he only walked on this earth in a different century. But he's not "from" a different century.
Re: Vote Linus for Person of the Century
Kevin Traas schrieb: > > Hey, Linus Torvalds isn't even in the top 20! Let's change that! ;-) > > >Time Magazine is allowing us to vote for Time Magazines > >Person of the Century, which will be in their December 1999 issue. > > To vote go to: > >http://www.pathfinder.com/time/time100/toppersonmain.html just did, but is this list not moderated, Jesus Christ is so far I now, from a different century and he is on top? Matth
