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[lilraylewis]

Here are mine in no particular order:

-Plato
-Aristotle
-Isaac Newton
-William Shakespeare
-Albert Einstein


p.s. I'm sure this has been done before, but I searched and couldn't find anything.

 

[Ninja Scooter]

-Einstein
-Hitler
-Ben Franklin
-Woodrow Wilson
-Brett Favre

 

[DMczaf]

No Magic Johnson, Scooter?

 

[aparisi2274]

Einstein
Stephen Hawking
Eisenhower
Aristotle
Newton

 

[Chony]

The guy who invented bacon and ice cream, and music, maybe ninjas too.

 

[Ninja Scooter]

No Magic Johnson, Scooter?

uhh, in case you haven't noticed, Magic Johnson is borderline retarded. If this were a "Top 5 basketball players" or "Best ever Basketball player with the initials M and J" or "Top 5 celebrities with AIDS" then i'd put him down.

 

[kablooey]

Dan Quayle
George W Bush
L. Ron Hubbard
Genghis Khan
Magic Johnson

 

[lilraylewis]

-Einstein
-Hitler
-Ben Franklin
-Woodrow Wilson
-Brett Favre

I like the Ben Frankiln mention. Probably one of my favorite people of all time.

 

[ge-man]

Aristotle
Kant
Newton
Lincoln
Twain

 

[siege]

Bill Gates
Warren Edward Buffet
Paul Gardner Allen
Hassanal Bolkiah
Fahd Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud

 

[GaimeGuy]

-Einstein
-Hitler
-Ben Franklin
-Woodrow Wilson
-Brett Favre

hitler?

Charismatic, yes. Amazing leader. really got germany up and running with the development programs for the army (while the US got out of the depression with public works, environment, and building projects).

But the guy was a downright retard when it came to military tactics.

Despite that, he nearly took over all of europe and Russia, and then would have had no problem taking over the rest of the world.

We're lucky Hitler sucked with tactics. Otherwise, we'd probably be in a very different world right now.

Of course, military tactics and strategy isn't the only way to measure intelligence, but even so, I wouldn't call hitler "smart" in the sense that I think is being asked.

 

[Triumph]

Buddha
Einstein
Hawking
Franklin
Affleck

 

[nitewulf]

1) Sir Isaac Newton
2) Pierre Simon Laplace
3) Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier
4) Einstein
5) Professor Satyen Bose

 

[bjork]

1. Michael Jordan
2. Vince McMahon
3. tie

 

[White Man]

Michel Foucault
Ludwig Wittgenstein
Roger Bacon
George Berkeley
Johannes Valentinus Andreä

 

[ge-man]

White Man, this is off topic, but I was wondering where you got your avatar from.

 

[White Man]

It's Jean-Luc Godard. Found it via Google searches and cropped it myself. Judging from other pics of him, I'd say it dates from 1965-1966.

 

[android]

Albert Einstein
Stephen Hawking
Leonardo Da Vinci
Thomas Edison
Orville and Wilbur Wright

 

[iapetus]

Despite that, he nearly took over all of europe and Russia, and then would have had no problem taking over the rest of the world.

No. Being taken over is Russia's primary defence against invasion. Then they're all like "Cool. You've invaded. You win. Now it's winter - enjoy, bitches."

 

[DMczaf]

uhh, in case you haven't noticed, Magic Johnson is borderline retarded. If this were a "Top 5 basketball players" or "Best ever Basketball player with the initials M and J" or "Top 5 celebrities with AIDS" then i'd put him down.

:lol :lol

1. Michael Jordan
2. Vince McMahon
3. tie

Damn straight.

 

[Hitler Stole My Potato]

1) Michael
2) Marlon
3) Jermaine
4) Jackie
5) Tito

 

[ge-man]

It's Jean-Luc Godard. Found it via Google searches and cropped it myself. Judging from other pics of him, I'd say it dates from 1965-1966.

Yeah, I already knew it was Godard. I had an avatar of the same pic when I used to post on DVDfile, so I was kind of shocked to see a similar one on the GAF.

If we were allowed to have a bigger list, I probably would've put Godard somewhere on it.

 

[SD-Ness]

I'm having trouble defining "smart." There are so many different people that could fit a list like this. Do you mean mental smartness? Influence? I could put Miles Davis on the list as a musical pioneer and genius, but he does not contend with, for instance, Einstein, in mental smartness. But anyway...

Albert Einstein
Leonardo Da Vinci
Sir Isaac Newton
Stephen Hawking
Ben Franklin

 

[WordofGod]

1. Jesus (He is God you know)

"In the beginning the Word already existed. He was with God, and he was God. John 1:1

Christ is the one through whom God created everything in heaven and earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can't see--kings, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities. Everything has been created through him and for him. He existed before everything else began, and he holds all creation together. Colossians 1:16-17

2. Solomon

"The Lord was pleased with Solomon's reply and was glad that he had asked for wisdom. So God replied, "Because you have asked for wisdom in governing my people and have not asked for a long life or riches for yourself or the death of your enemies-- I will give you what you asked for! I will give you a wise and understanding mind such as no one else has ever had or ever will have!" 1 Kings 3:10-12

3. Aposlte Paul (Read the New Testament to see how smart He was: Start with the book of Romans)

4. Einstein
5. Isaac Newton

 

[MetaKnight]

Hunter Thompson

























No really, I respect that druggie coward.

 

[Boogie]

No. Being taken over is Russia's primary defence against invasion. Then they're all like "Cool. You've invaded. You win. Now it's winter - enjoy, bitches."

:lol Indeed.

 

[WHOAguitarninja]

1. Newton
2. Einstein
3. Daniel Gildenlow
4. Bill Gates
5. Ed Witten

It's tough to do this objectively. If I were to do it purely by my biases, it wuold probably come out similar to nitewulf's (only I think Gauss would've been in there somewhere). Kudos for putting Newton @ 1, I didn't expect to see that and agree completely.

 

[God's Hand]

Why is it that a lot of religious people like to get all up in your face and bold their beliefs? We don't care, honestly.

 

[WordofGod]

Why is it that a lot of religious people like to get all up in your face and bold their beliefs? We don't care, honestly.

So I cant answer questions now because they might offend u?

 

[WHOAguitarninja]

Why is it that a lot of religious people like to get all up in your face and bold their beliefs? We don't care, honestly.

Proud of their beleifs I suppose. Nothing wrong with it, and it's not hurting anything. Only becomes a problem when they try and cram it down your throat. He's not really doing that though, I don't think.

Word, I don't think he was referncing you in particular, just that it happens quite a bit.

 

[jiggle]

Buddha
Confucius
Einstein
Hawking
Newton


honorable mention:

 

[Dilbert]

I'm sure I'd pick a different set at another point, but here are five which come to mind (in no particular order):

Albert Einstein
Richard Feynmann
Isaac Newton
Aristotle
Thomas Jefferson

 

[themadcowtipper]

Buddha


honorable mention:

He got his ass handed to him during the tournament
of Champions

 

[iapetus]

Einstein is so overrated.

 

[Tarazet]

William Shakespeare
Franz Liszt
Edgar Allen Poe
Abraham Lincoln
Thomas Edison

 

[Mugen]

Einstein is so overrated.

How so?

Einstein might not be the best but he's surely one of the best there ever was.

His ideas on astronomy and physics preety much shaped how we think of the universe as we know it today. I mean maybe I'm just speaking highly of him cause of my awesome astronomy class but the guy stand as one of the biggest foundation of what we know of science now.

And to add:

Shakespeare
Socrates
Lenin
Hemingway

 

[WHOAguitarninja]

Einstein is so overrated.

Anyone who says that really hasn't studied his stuff in much depth.

Here was this young, little known patent clerk, who, for the most part entirely on his own, was able to outsmart the most brilliant physicists of his day.

In the span of 1 year, (exactly 100 years ago) he managed to publish 3 papers who are STILL fantastically important to modern physics.

He published his papers on Relativity, E=mc^2, and the photo electric effect(which he won a nobel prize for). The photo electric effect eventually gave rise to the birth of quantum mechanics.

Einstein's influences are at the heart of nearly all modern physics and he should be rightly recognized as the genius that he is.

 

[nitewulf]

The photo electric effect eventually gave rise to the birth of quantum mechanics.

actually it was black body radiation, planck's constant and other observations during this period that didnt fit in with classical mechanics, all of them lead to quantum mechanics.

and i agree about Gauss, SN Bose is a personal favorite of mine, otherwise Gauss most likely would take that spot.

as for my bias towards Bose, mostly because he is largely unknown outside of the physics circle. yet he was very brilliant. aside from Bose-Einstein Condensation Theory and "Bosons" named after him, he is still largely unknown. Yet, he was one of the pioneers of statistical mechanics. My bias comes from the fact that he is from my country and was a lecturer at my local university.

there is a famous story about him, at a particular physics conference, Bose was sitting in the first row, sleeping, while Planck was trying to explain a theory with some equations. He wasnt having any luck making the laymen understand what he was talking about, and he noticed Bose was sleeping. So he said, "Pehaps Professor Bose could explain things a bit better!"
Bose walked up right away, solved the equations simply, explained their meanings to the audience, walked right back, and fell back asleep.

 

[Asbel]

In no order I like

Franklin - the history channel special made me a fan
Einstein - Maybe God does play dice but that's ok
Machiavelli - "Men ought either to be well treated or crushed" I love the honesty

 

[WHOAguitarninja]

actually it was black body radiation, planck's constant and other observations during this period that didnt fit in with classical mechanics, all of them lead to quantum mechanics.

Yea, you're right, and I probably should've referenced those as well, I was just going on the fact taht most people consider the paper on the photoelectric effect and his quantum theory of light to be fundamental in the early days of quantum mechanics. Poor wording on my part, I admit.

and i agree about Gauss, SN Bose is a personal favorite of mine, otherwise Gauss most likely would take that spot.

as for my bias towards Bose, mostly because he is largely unknown outside of the physics circle. yet he was very brilliant. aside from Bose-Einstein Condensation Theory and "Bosons" named after him, he is still largely unknown. Yet, he was one of the pioneers of statistical mechanics. My bias comes from the fact that he is from my country and was a lecturer at my local university.

there is a famous story about him, at a particular physics conference, Bose was sitting in the first row, sleeping, while Planck was trying to explain a theory with some equations. He wasnt having any luck making the laymen understand what he was talking about, and he noticed Bose was sleeping. So he said, "Pehaps Professor Bose could explain things a bit better!"
Bose walked up right away, solved the equations simply, explained their meanings to the audience, walked right back, and fell back asleep.

Haha, nice. I had no idea Bosons came from his name , cool, neat to know.

 

[whytemyke]

I'm sorry, but if you're going to go with political theorists, there's about two who you can legitimately put on this list: Socrates and Aristotle. Machiavelli was a pretentious shit who simply stated the truth... honesty doesn't make one smart. At least not "top 5" smart. And if ANYONE puts Marx down, they should be slapped. I actually was dumb enough to read the Communist Manifesto and it was the longest whine I've ever experienced. Anyone who backs up their arguments with "And I needn't even go into religion's effect on this!" is rendered null, IMHO.

1. Newton
2. Socrates
3. Sun Tzu (fucker knew more about how war and societies existed ~3000 years ago than we do today)
4. Einstein
5. Aristotle

And someone slap whoever put Lincoln down.

 

[Dilbert]

I'm sorry, but if you're going to go with political theorists, there's about two who you can legitimately put on this list: Socrates and Aristotle.

Socrates? Exactly what was his political philosophy?

And if ANYONE puts Marx down, they should be slapped. I actually was dumb enough to read the Communist Manifesto and it was the longest whine I've ever experienced. Anyone who backs up their arguments with "And I needn't even go into religion's effect on this!" is rendered null, IMHO.

The Socrates comment made me suspect that you didn't know anything about philosophy, and the Marx comment confirmed my suspicion.

 

[Litigation Manuel]

I'll add Charles Darwin to the mix. He's probably one of the, if not the, greatest observers of all time.

 

[ToxicAdam]

I'll add Charles Darwin to the mix. He's probably one of the, if not the, greatest observers of all time.

Damn, I was about to scold everyone for not having him on thier lists.



FUCKING DARWIN PPL!

He was even humble enough to wait until his end of his life to release all his studies, and even suggest that they may be wrong, or proven incorrect. (Of course, everyone after him just reinforced his finding 1,000,000 fold)
.

 

[XMonkey]

Hmmm...

- Newton
- Einstein
- Gandhi
- FDR
- Ben Franklin

 

[whytemyke]

Socrates? Exactly what was his political philosophy?


The Socrates comment made me suspect that you didn't know anything about philosophy, and the Marx comment confirmed my suspicion.

Care to substantiate? First off, I don't know how you can read Socrates and not see the obvious intermingling of politics and philosophy with most of his shit. Politics, essentially, is dealing with citizens of a city, as its Greek history shows. I'm sure you'll probably come up with some weak argument about how Socrates avoided 'politics' by every means possible, and anyone who read The Apology could clearly see that, but to deny that his works reflect on the modern milieu of politics is to be naive to the heart of everything he actually taught. Let alone the obvious-- and imporant-- ideal of how the individual should function within the state (Crito). If this doesn't reflect as political behavior... then maybe you and I should talk about what political behavior exactly is.

The second part, about Marx, seems rather empty and shallow. What is it about Marx that you feel is so important, or about my argument that it so wanting? Obviously the whole point I made about religion is only a microcosm of my entire disdain with Marx, but the essence of the Manifesto is more or less telling people how society already is communal in nature-- though not in justice-- and that the abolition of capital will result in the ultimate communist state eventually. But to write an entire piece about how society will revamp itself without attempting to touch on culture or religion and blowing over the effect of family (calling family, and I'm paraphrasing here, a simple union of common cause) is horribly inept at any level of academic study. This, to me, is the equivalent of trying to sum up the Civil War by talking about Appomatox and nothing else. Sure, there's definitely circumstantial evidence which, when viewed in particular frames of time and shades of light, might line up to form a decent argument, but the Manifesto is horribly lacking sound logic, and I personally think its a joke to put anything he did up against anyone else in an intelligent forum. Is he important to the course of human history? Of course!!! But so is Martin Luther, and nobody is putting him on the list. Intelligence and influence are mutually exclusive.

Of course, jinx, if you disagree with any of this and still think that I have no idea what I'm talking about, feel free to step up to the plate and tell me.

 

[White Man]

Care to substantiate? First off, I don't know how you can read Socrates and not see the obvious intermingling of politics and philosophy with most of his shit. Politics, essentially, is dealing with citizens of a city, as its Greek history shows. I'm sure you'll probably come up with some weak argument about how Socrates avoided 'politics' by every means possible, and anyone who read The Apology could clearly see that, but to deny that his works reflect on the modern milieu of politics is to be naive to the heart of everything he actually taught. Let alone the obvious-- and imporant-- ideal of how the individual should function within the state (Crito). If this doesn't reflect as political behavior... then maybe you and I should talk about what political behavior exactly is.

A lot of words wasted on saying absolutely nothing. Ever consider being Bill O'Reilly's fluffer?

The second part, about Marx, seems rather empty and shallow. What is it about Marx that you feel is so important, or about my argument that it so wanting? Obviously the whole point I made about religion is only a microcosm of my entire disdain with Marx, but the essence of the Manifesto is more or less telling people how society already is communal in nature-- though not in justice-- and that the abolition of capital will result in the ultimate communist state eventually. But to write an entire piece about how society will revamp itself without attempting to touch on culture or religion and blowing over the effect of family (calling family, and I'm paraphrasing here, a simple union of common cause) is horribly inept at any level of academic study. This, to me, is the equivalent of trying to sum up the Civil War by talking about Appomatox and nothing else. Sure, there's definitely circumstantial evidence which, when viewed in particular frames of time and shades of light, might line up to form a decent argument, but the Manifesto is horribly lacking sound logic, and I personally think its a joke to put anything he did up against anyone else in an intelligent forum. Is he important to the course of human history? Of course!!! But so is Martin Luther, and nobody is putting him on the list. Intelligence and influence are mutually exclusive.

Jesus. In a society where many possible faiths could be represented, it is unfair to ALL of them if the basis for your society plays favorites to any one of them. I thought semi-intelligent (enen quasi-intelligent) folks had understood that Marx wasn't really saying "OMG RELIGION == TEH BADD."

 

[Dilbert]

Care to substantiate? First off, I don't know how you can read Socrates and not see the obvious intermingling of politics and philosophy with most of his shit.

Not to be overly blunt, but the reason I reacted so strongly to your comment is that Socrates didn't write anything down.

The two dialogues you cite (Apology and Crito) were written by Plato. In many of his dialogues, Plato used "Socrates" as a character who would voice Plato's own philosophies; the extent to which Plato's early writings reflect Socrates' beliefs is unknown, but Plato's later writings are almost entirely based on his emerging idealism. Socrates' own beliefs are poorly documented because of the lack of written evidence. (His teaching method was to ask questions about someone's position until the truth emerged, but that doesn't give any insight into what he himself believed.)

The second part, about Marx, seems rather empty and shallow. What is it about Marx that you feel is so important, or about my argument that it so wanting?

You can say a LOT of things about Marx...but saying that he's not intelligent is not on the list.

 

[J2 Cool]

Brett Favre

:lol

Anyway, too hard to answer. I don't know em well enough.

 

[Asbel]

Machiavelli was a pretentious shit who simply stated the truth... honesty doesn't make one smart. At least not "top 5" smart.

I wasn't listing who I thought was top five smartest since you can nitpick anyone's list. Merely stating the ones I like among the 'smartest people ever'. Else, I would have included Newton and Darwin. And you belittle stating the truth. Survival of the fittest and the discovery of gravity are just observed truths, yet pure genius at the same time.