Who are the greatest living thinkers?

MOM's, Oh light me up with stars and flags boys and girls!!!!

No but really who is to say that just because someone thought of something cleaver and decided to write it down makes them a great thinker. A great thinker to me is a person who selflessly uses all of there time and mental energy to help raise a human being into there greatest potential. Who cares about a butterfly dancing across the morning grass. My Mom figured out how to make me talk, walk, and be a loving father.

Originally posted by kimcam
I am almost afraid to say it as there must be some sort of 'stigma' or conspiracy I am uneducation about, but what about Steven Hawking? Can't help but see the wheels moving in that head!

I agree, although my respect for the man plummeted after doing a cheesy tv advert.

reply to post by woodwardjnr

My respect plummeted for him when he introduced the idea of reverse causation during the "big crunch" where everything that's ever happened would happen in reverse order with broken glasses reassembling themselves. I think Hawking is prepared to go to any lengths to deny the existence of God as well and has a real axe to grind in that department. Like Steve Jobs on his deathbed who went "oh WOW, oh WOW, oh WOW" I think Hawking might be in for a big surprise.

As far as today's thinkers I like Irwin Laszlo and Bernard Haisch for their work and understanding of the Zero Point Field as an informational processing cosmological unity (self aware Universe).

14th Dalai Lama

Stephen Hawking

Neil deGrasse Tyson

Michio Kaku

Maybe one day one of us.

Originally posted by zeeon
I would like to nominate two recent pioneers -

Vincent Cerf commonly known as the "Father of the Internet".
This man has been so monumental to our current way of life. Without his knowledge, forsight and motivation, we would not be here discussing this topic today. A truly brilliant mind.

My other nomination is Steve Jobs. Without this pioneering thinker, we may have had the internet, but we might very well need huge rooms of computer hardware to access them instead of our nice compact personal computers / cell phones / pda's.
Jobs was a true visionary and pioneer.



All the guys mentioned above listen to this guy,,, They even wait in line to hear him... Is Name is

Nassim Talib,,,

Just youtube this guy its worth it,, He puts into words everything we wonder about.. He speaks 3 languages

He wrote the book the BLACK SWAN this book as to be read at least 3 times its that good.. So without hesitation, I would say Nassim for our generation he is unbelievable,, His illustration and metaphors are biblical... yet contemporary

reply to post by brandiwine14


You took the words right out of my mouth

Michio Kaku has such a way with explaining his amazing views on science, the future, and life. I remember reading hyperspace and just getting sucked into that book.

Tyson Neil degrasse also has a way of looking out of the box and love hearing him speak, definately inspiring.

The only other person I can think of was a professor I had for philosophy and religions of the world, Dr. Dennis Sweet. Short biography
In whatever he taught he would use terms in the native language and could speak them fluently I assume by how easily he did, consisting of German, Greek, Latin, a dialect of Indian (not native), as well as Gaelic. I would be mesmerized by the way he taught, how effortlessly he spoke other languages, citing quotes from philosophers, the books they wrote, and religious texts from memory. Hands down the most intelligent and enlightening professors I've ever had.

Oh and I had him a community college of all places

This question is hard because your definition of a what good thinker is may differ from mine. Further, the best thinkers may not be talkers or publishers and thus not in the public eye.

In fact it would seem optimal thinking is to do your best for yourself and your fellow human.

Kaku is my nominee. There are plenty of other, but they are all regarded as 'crazy'.

Originally posted by zerozero00
reply to post by woodwardjnr

 

This is a very interesting question, I've been searching for great thinkers for many years.........and found very few

In regards to Philosophy:

I believe philosophy in almost its entirety was touched and done to death by the great Greek men of old, Plato, Socrates and Aristotle to name the three most well known, who all delved deep and generally covered all ground ....well enough ground for most of civilizations to follow it ever since.

My signature says it all really!

Dictatorship naturally arises out of democracy and the most aggravated form of tyranny and slavery out of the most extreme liberty - Plato

In regards of thinkers:

I see today's thinkers as people like Howard Zin, Norm Chomsky, Michael Albert and other social commentators, linguistics and Journalists/writers

edit on 27-3-2013 by zerozero00 because: (no reason given)

But you forgot the most important one - LOL - though dead - Frank Zappa - the man was not only a brilliant musician - but a profound thinker.

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

this guy recognized that human language had an ability to be converted into code, actually binary code. He did this in the 1700's, coupled with his monadolgy theory I would say he's pretty bad ass.

It seems that the people who changed the world by their philosophies, lots of them have died by the sword because of their establishment crumbling views. Mostly due to political and theological differences in the mobs and themselves.

Socrates, Pythagoras, and Ghandi to name a few.

They never seem to be considered philosophers until they are dead. Same goes today right? People become seemingly popular and 'legends' after their deaths instead of while they are here. Hmph!

So I don't know, but we will find out soon enough after they are gone.

Sad.

Christian de Qunicy and David Chalmers are two very influential contemporary philosophers, who were both heavily influenced by Alfred Whitehead. In addition, I would add the anthropologist Jeremy Narby and the spiritualist Sandar Ingerman as influential thinkers.

Hitchens, Sam Harris, Donald Trump

Originally posted by woodwardjnr

Originally posted by kimcam
I am almost afraid to say it as there must be some sort of 'stigma' or conspiracy I am uneducation about, but what about Steven Hawking? Can't help but see the wheels moving in that head!

I agree, although my respect for the man plummeted after doing a cheesy tv advert.

Steven Hawking despite he is great thinker but he isn't in my opinion greatest one. There is at least one greater mind than him.

en.wikipedia.org...

My choice is Leonard Susskind.

water.

The way it always assumes the lowest place, placid and clear, calm and cool.

You see perfect evidence of cause and effect with water, of virtue, of life.

Water accepts everything and has its part in life.

A devisive question. They are not greatest thinkers, but perhaps greatest expressers. They relay the collective thoughts. We all think. The sum of our thoughts is great. They channel these thoughts. We are all great.

What if i said it like this...

Were everywhere

Our greatest minds existed prior to B.C. Socrates was five hundred years before Christ. Many others followed. I find that people that have more idle time have better creativity. It shows in our history. Newton is another figure.

Fast forward, Oppenheimer and Einstein were beyond their years. I'm not sure if we have any contemporary minds equal to those in the past. It seems we are de-evolutionizing (made up word). Can anyone tell us in modern history that we have any minds superior to any of those in the past?

I think not. Yet I'm hopeful we have our next Einstein. Great minds are scant in our modern world because technology makes everything easy.

Bucky Fuller,,, if only he had been required reading for our governments leadership,, we might be in a remarkable world right now.
CRITICAL PATH was one of the greatest books written in the 20th Century.

I think today, finding living examples, like was said by SinMaker, will be hard to find, because of technology ,, even though that sounds funny. I think the truth of too many choices will leave out some of our greatest minds in the 21st century.

I would say out of people of note I have personally met, DAN WINTER would be right at the top. He wrote a book,, you can't get any longer in America, called Alphabet of the Heart,, exceptional mind that not many will appreciate for their own lack of understanding. You should follow the Rabbit Hole to Dan,, a walking master a friend of mine likes to say. His teaching is on the Sacred Geometry line of thought.

I don't think we are Regressing Evolutionary wise in regard to 'great' minds. It is just so many mediocre minds cloud the ability to hear and see them out there today.

and Immediately Read Critical Path and regret what we could have had by now if we had followed Buckminsters advice from the 70's.

Although all that have been mentioned are great...

I'd say George Carlin is right up there!