Very interesting post, Terri. It prompts me to ask: if you could sit down with any 6 individuals (irrespective of their age, ethnicity, beliefs, nationality, etc) from history (ancient or modern) for dinner, who would they be? Assume they can all understand eachother irrespective of the language they spoke in real life.
I'm assuming you mean people from the past and no longer with us, as that's how I framed my comment about Newton. In no ranked order whatsoever, in addition to Newton, these would be my choices today. I say "today" because it's apt to change. These are people whom I've studied, admired, and/or just want to know more about how they ticked.
Octavian (the first Roman Emperor). Super interesting dude for lots of reasons.
Martin Luther. Religious reformer than ended up changing the world in unforeseen ways just like Newton.
Katharine Hepburn. My childhood hero.
Queen Elizabeth I. Woman in a man's world entirely.
My Grandma Jenny. I adored her and miss her very much.
COVID showed people what happens when you put too much stock in scientists. They’re not the brilliant people you see in movies, they’re status seeking primates just like the rest of us.
That's quite a list, and narrowing it down to just six means probably involved some tough decisions to get a diverse range of people. In attempting to come up with my own, my current choice would be...
1. BJ581 - the 'warrior' woman of Birka, to solve the questions about her grave goods and how they relate to her actual life. Nancy Marie Brown's book speculating on her life suggests some wide-ranging travels and experiences.
2. Alexander the Great, because I studied him (actually I'm more interested in his horse Bucephelus, and once started to write a novella from the perspective of a young slave in charge of Alexander's famous war horse.)
3. Balian of Ibelin, because I studied the Crusades and have a particular interest in the Frankish Kingdom of Jerusalem in the period leading up to its fall to Saladin when, for a while, there was some level of tolerance - co-existence between the Christians and Muslims. (I am, sadly, very aware that the real Balian was a senior lord of the Kingdom and not the handsome young blacksmith as played by Orlando Bloom in Ridley Scott's movie - one of my favourites!)
4. St Francis of Assisi, because of his love of animals and generally peace-loving nature. I'd like to tell him to take better care of himself as being physically healthy would better enable him to undertake the work he felt compelled to do.
5. John F. Kennedy, a childhood hero of mine. I'm more interested in his military career as a PT boat skipper than his political career (or love life!). My love of wooden boats and ships comes into play here. (My brother wasn't into building model ships from kits, but I sure was! I started constructing PT boats from cardboard and progressed to the model kits by Revell and other brands.)
6. Michael Jackson - because I'm a fan, write a monthly column for a popular culture journal devoted to MJ Studies, and I have lots of questions about his creative processes and his humanitarian activities. (Earth Song is my favourite MJ song - its such a powerful explosion of pain, anger and concern for the planet, people and animals - and he started writing it in the 80s but didn't get to finish and record it until 1994. Such a long gestation resulting in it evolving into a pop music masterpiece incorporating issues that wouldn't necessarily have been apparent when he started writing it.)
Very interesting list! I didn't actually try in any way to make my list diverse. Those are just people I've thought about for along time, so they easily come to mind for me. And yes! the Birka "warrior" would be a nice puzzle to solve :) Not sure if you saw it, but Medievalists.net is offering a course on the Crusades. Two of them in fact. The one is under way now and will end next week, but the next chapter in the story regarding Mongol invasions is going to start in mid-April. Your choice #3 made me think of it. https://medievalstudies.thinkific.com/
Thanks for reading and your comment, Will. I definitely agree and would argue that you will not (or at least should not) find a scientist worth their salt who would disagree. True science is about testing, retesting, and fundamentally waiting to be proven wrong in order to perfect the outcomes. But it's also about interpreting the data, which like historians do with the past, no one does in a vacuum that is entirely objective, as you correctly point out. But I think there are many in the world who don't see that and follow along because "science" has told them it's the right thing to do. It has become a new "religion" in a way that on the face of it purports to demand a level of credibility exclusive of other factors just because. My argument is simply that science isn't the only metric for progress and human flourishing in this world. Nor is it the only way to cope and solve problems. Old ways are not "bad" or "outdated" ways that are not useful to us anymore. I guess the idea of progress needs to be rethought.
Very interesting post, Terri. It prompts me to ask: if you could sit down with any 6 individuals (irrespective of their age, ethnicity, beliefs, nationality, etc) from history (ancient or modern) for dinner, who would they be? Assume they can all understand eachother irrespective of the language they spoke in real life.
Hi Kerry!
I'm assuming you mean people from the past and no longer with us, as that's how I framed my comment about Newton. In no ranked order whatsoever, in addition to Newton, these would be my choices today. I say "today" because it's apt to change. These are people whom I've studied, admired, and/or just want to know more about how they ticked.
Octavian (the first Roman Emperor). Super interesting dude for lots of reasons.
Martin Luther. Religious reformer than ended up changing the world in unforeseen ways just like Newton.
Katharine Hepburn. My childhood hero.
Queen Elizabeth I. Woman in a man's world entirely.
My Grandma Jenny. I adored her and miss her very much.
COVID showed people what happens when you put too much stock in scientists. They’re not the brilliant people you see in movies, they’re status seeking primates just like the rest of us.
That's quite a list, and narrowing it down to just six means probably involved some tough decisions to get a diverse range of people. In attempting to come up with my own, my current choice would be...
1. BJ581 - the 'warrior' woman of Birka, to solve the questions about her grave goods and how they relate to her actual life. Nancy Marie Brown's book speculating on her life suggests some wide-ranging travels and experiences.
2. Alexander the Great, because I studied him (actually I'm more interested in his horse Bucephelus, and once started to write a novella from the perspective of a young slave in charge of Alexander's famous war horse.)
3. Balian of Ibelin, because I studied the Crusades and have a particular interest in the Frankish Kingdom of Jerusalem in the period leading up to its fall to Saladin when, for a while, there was some level of tolerance - co-existence between the Christians and Muslims. (I am, sadly, very aware that the real Balian was a senior lord of the Kingdom and not the handsome young blacksmith as played by Orlando Bloom in Ridley Scott's movie - one of my favourites!)
4. St Francis of Assisi, because of his love of animals and generally peace-loving nature. I'd like to tell him to take better care of himself as being physically healthy would better enable him to undertake the work he felt compelled to do.
5. John F. Kennedy, a childhood hero of mine. I'm more interested in his military career as a PT boat skipper than his political career (or love life!). My love of wooden boats and ships comes into play here. (My brother wasn't into building model ships from kits, but I sure was! I started constructing PT boats from cardboard and progressed to the model kits by Revell and other brands.)
6. Michael Jackson - because I'm a fan, write a monthly column for a popular culture journal devoted to MJ Studies, and I have lots of questions about his creative processes and his humanitarian activities. (Earth Song is my favourite MJ song - its such a powerful explosion of pain, anger and concern for the planet, people and animals - and he started writing it in the 80s but didn't get to finish and record it until 1994. Such a long gestation resulting in it evolving into a pop music masterpiece incorporating issues that wouldn't necessarily have been apparent when he started writing it.)
Very interesting list! I didn't actually try in any way to make my list diverse. Those are just people I've thought about for along time, so they easily come to mind for me. And yes! the Birka "warrior" would be a nice puzzle to solve :) Not sure if you saw it, but Medievalists.net is offering a course on the Crusades. Two of them in fact. The one is under way now and will end next week, but the next chapter in the story regarding Mongol invasions is going to start in mid-April. Your choice #3 made me think of it. https://medievalstudies.thinkific.com/
Thanks for reading and your comment, Will. I definitely agree and would argue that you will not (or at least should not) find a scientist worth their salt who would disagree. True science is about testing, retesting, and fundamentally waiting to be proven wrong in order to perfect the outcomes. But it's also about interpreting the data, which like historians do with the past, no one does in a vacuum that is entirely objective, as you correctly point out. But I think there are many in the world who don't see that and follow along because "science" has told them it's the right thing to do. It has become a new "religion" in a way that on the face of it purports to demand a level of credibility exclusive of other factors just because. My argument is simply that science isn't the only metric for progress and human flourishing in this world. Nor is it the only way to cope and solve problems. Old ways are not "bad" or "outdated" ways that are not useful to us anymore. I guess the idea of progress needs to be rethought.