Who is the smartest person alive today?

[timejim]

HMMMMMMM, I would consider Stephen Hawking.

 

[Mattius_]

myself

 

[photon]

So we've got at least one thing in common Timejim.
Yeah, Hawking's a great guy.

But then there's this other guy, Corey. aka "photon." Heard of him?

 

[chroot]

Hawking sucks.

There are lot of different kinds of "smart."

In the physics/math community, I'd say Ed Witten all the way.

In the music/art community... hmmmm... I'm not sure who I'd say, but it's not Britney Spears or Janet Jackson.

How about politics? Other sciences? How about writers?

- Warren

 

[Evo]

smartest and also most multi-faceted - chroot

 

[chroot]

Originally posted by Evo
smartest and also most multi-faceted - chroot

Where's the kissy-face smilie?! Greg, we need a kissie face smilie!

Thanks Evo, you're the best. I only wish I were as smart as Ed Witten though.

- Warren

 

[Evo]

Originally posted by chroot
I only wish I were as smart as Ed Witten though.

- Warren

You're a lot younger than he is. Besides, I'll bet he's not as good at rock climbing!

 

[chroot]

Originally posted by Evo
You're a lot younger than he is. Besides, I'll bet he's not as good at rock climbing!

Yeah, not with those little weenie arms of his... :-X

- Warren

 

[Njorl]

Well, if you ask Marylin vos Savant, she'll tell you it is her. If you ask someone else, and she happens to overhear it, she'll run over and tell you it is her.

Njorl

 

[Monique]

How do you define smartest person?
And why Stephen Hawking?

 

[Evo]

Originally posted by Njorl
Well, if you ask Marylin vos Savant, she'll tell you it is her. If you ask someone else, and she happens to overhear it, she'll run over and tell you it is her.

Njorl

Njorl, I love reading your posts! You are a HOOT!

 

[Njorl]

Originally posted by Evo
Njorl, I love reading your posts! You are a HOOT!

(<-couldn't find a blushing smilee)

Thank you very much.
Njorl

 

[rick1138]

Hawking sucks.

Could you explain?


A few names I would like to add:

Roger Penrose
Michio Kaku
Murray Gell-Mann

 

[jimmy p]

hmmm, what about that Shakuntala Devi, the woman who worked out the 23rd root of a 201 digit number in 50 seconds. Also what about the people who are real smart but haven't been made famous?

 

[JDK]

Indeed. For example, in music, the "smartest" musical being is DEFINITELY not famous. Such as in East India, there music takes skill and talent far surpassing western music's requirements. None of us will probably ever know who the smartest person is in anyone area. But, none the less it sure is fun to take a stab at it!

 

[The_Professional]

There's different kinds of smarts:

Sports: Michael Jordan, the guy's a totally awesome baseball player especially when he hits those home runs. He's just amazing.

Business: Donald Trump, he lost billions and was on the verge of bankruptcy and got himself back up, learned from his mistakes and made more money.

Entertainment: Russell Crowe, without a doubt an excellent actor.

 

[PrudensOptimus]

Originally posted by Monique
How do you define smartest person?
And why Stephen Hawking?

I think most people say Stephen Hawking because they hear his name all the time.

Regarding this topic of "who is smartest" I have no comments but a Chinese Proverb can explain: "There is mountains beyond mountains, and skies beyond skies."

 

[DarkAnt]

by smartest do you mean just raw computation power or what?

 

[Pergatory]

Originally posted by The_Professional
Entertainment: Russell Crowe, without a doubt an excellent actor.

Woh! Don't get me wrong here, he's a decent actor, but this guy is a serious nutcase. Always getting thrown in jail for beating his wife or getting into a bar fight. He may have talent, but smart he is not. I'd sooner choose someone like Sean Connery.

I think Prudens' quote sums it up best:

Originally posted by PrudensOptimus
"There is mountains beyond mountains, and skies beyond skies."

We may or may not ever know the smartest person, but we will surely never know whether or not we know the smartest person.

 

[Mr. Robin Parsons]

Change it from 'smartest' to who is 'farthest' ahead of the rest...

from somewhere 'up here', right behind you, com'in round again...

(seems to just keep circling, but...)

 

[ranyart]

Originally posted by timejim
HMMMMMMM, I would consider Stephen Hawking.

Judging by his dress-sense (and because I have met him personally) Ed Witten:http://www.sns.ias.edu/~witten/

 

[The_Professional]

Originally posted by Pergatory
Woh! Don't get me wrong here, he's a decent actor, but this guy is a serious nutcase.

I was basing it on the fact that he has won an Oscar for best actor, and got some other numerous awards. The fact that he researches and studies every detail of the character he's about to portray. And from watching his performance, which he makes look easy.

Originally posted by Pergatory
Always getting thrown in jail for beating his wife or getting into a bar fight. He may have talent, but smart he is not. I'd sooner choose someone like Sean Connery.

Beating his wife? Who are you talking about? He never assaulted his wife.

 

[The_Professional]

Oh, and when it comes to Love. Women are smarter.

 

[Dagenais]

Who is the smartest person alive today?

Bill Gates.

 

[Monique]

Who is the smartest person alive today?

The person who doesn't consider themselve the smartest.

 

[Mr. Robin Parsons]

Originally posted by Monique
The person who doesn't consider themselve the smartest.

Then they are in 'self denial' and that isn't very smart, now is it?

 

[Monique]

I think arrogant behaviour and lack of discussion w/ other people is not smart either (coming forth of thinking to be the smartest of all).

 

[himanshu121]

U are considering smart by virtue of their knowledge if it so then phoenixthoth , Olde drunk , Tenyears, Canute are way ahead on the members on the board

 

[Vosh]

Originally posted by Njorl
Well, if you ask Marylin vos Savant, she'll tell you it is her. If you ask someone else, and she happens to overhear it, she'll run over and tell you it is her.

Njorl

Have you ever seen her behave this way? I find her to be eminently reasonable and the finest example of maturity I've ever come across. Her column is about her wanting to help people sort out the difference between reality and fantasy, which she regards as the one area most folks need more help with than anything else and I happen to agree. Her book, "The Power of Logical Thinking" was a real eye opener into the way politics, etc., works in this country. She has enhanced my life through her writing. Sending a *$&^% go-cart to Mars hasn't helped me at all.

Oh, and I suspect only the smartest person in the world knows who is the smartest person in the world.

 

[jammieg]

Not simply meant to butter anyone's biscuit but I would guess the smartest person in the world is oneself, if they have the desire and will and perserverance to change for the better, because no one can tell another what they have to do or must not or can or can't do but they can suggest the ways and it's up to oneself to climb or descend or be lazy, but sitting around talking about it leaves one to percieve the world as much as the complexity of their own mind perceives the world, and so one can learn a great deal from the savants as much as from the idiots because being wise should be the aim if they choose and accepting and understanding one's own idiocy is required to further that aim, the capacity to make change is more important than knowing anyone thing for absolute certainty, because change is evolution and everyone has the capacity to change a little or a lot of what they percieve that they can't, and learn from it, often I think people think they are stuck in life and they have given up but I doubt it, I think it's easier sometimes to give up and let others do the work and everyone has to rest from time to time but that doesn't mean people can't go back and try again, it's possible that this world is a reflection of everyone's mind so if one can figure out how to free up someone elses mind a bit they also learn to free up their own a bit, strange but true it seems.
Lol a go-cart but it looks cool!
...My reasons are that the world is a reflection of one's own mind so that the more similar someone elses way of thinking the more intelligent they seem to one, and the other thing is the smartest person in the world can't do me a bit of good if I don't help myself.

 

[FZ+]

Originally posted by rick1138
Could you explain?

Well, Hawking is generally rather unpopular amongst physics communities. Many people resent him for his media prescence, and consider his success to be more a matter of public sympathy over his disability rather than actual skill. Finding Hawking in a "100 Greatest Scientists" book instead of Feynman, Dirac, Heisenberg, Pauli, Planck, Maxwell, Faraday etc makes many people angry.

I have no idea who is the smartest person today - it probably depends on what you think smart is. Bill Gates, perhaps, because he is smart enough to realize you can make money out of this "microcomputer" thing. He is certainly the most successful in terms of getting rich, which is how success is normally measured in the modern, capitalist world.

 

[Dagenais]

I have no idea who is the smartest person today - it probably depends on what you think smart is. Bill Gates, perhaps, because he is smart enough to realize you can make money out of this "microcomputer" thing. He is certainly the most successful in terms of getting rich, which is how success is normally measured in the modern, capitalist world.

Yes, as I posted I was highly surprised I was the first to mention William Gates. He isn't just smart in terms of money, but he is brilliant with technology and business but also an extremely nice and intelligent person normally.

He isn't just the richest man. He is by far the richest man, and the 2nd doesn't even come close to the money Gates has. I overhear the term, "unlimited wealth" too much to describe people like Paris Hilton. True unlimited wealth is Bill Gates. He is worth more than some small countries.

However, he promises to donate 90% of the fortune to charity after his demise.

Everyone that I've heard from that have met or worked for him only has good things to say.

He dominants any market he enters but never boasts like Trump. And he never went bankrupt like Trump.

He changed the computer world, whether cults of Linux or Mac want to admit it, and he does it with a sense of dignity.

Unlike competitors like Steve Jobs, he never mocks the competition, and he never fights back. He simply dominates your market.

Thousands of geeks out there are jealous, and that is why so many viruses are out attacking his products.

He, however, is the smartest man alive today.

 

[FZ+]

He isn't just smart in terms of money, but he is brilliant with technology and business but also an extremely nice and intelligent person normally.

... and he pays twice the standard rate for flattery!



EDIT: Actually, scratch that... Are you Bill Gates?

 

[rick1138]

Well, Hawking is generally rather unpopular amongst physics communities. Many people resent him for his media prescence, and consider his success to be more a matter of public sympathy over his disability rather than actual skill. Finding Hawking in a "100 Greatest Scientists" book instead of Feynman, Dirac, Heisenberg, Pauli, Planck, Maxwell, Faraday etc makes many people angry.

That is strange because he is one of the great cosmologists of the last century - and there is no question of his mathematical ability, though he is very conservative in his acceptance of fields such as string theory and LQG. It is true that he is better known than many whose contributions are as great as or in some cases surpass his, but I don't see how that diminishes his achievements.

 

[Dagenais]

Originally posted by FZ+
... and he pays twice the standard rate for flattery!



EDIT: Actually, scratch that... Are you Bill Gates?

No, but I live in Seattle.

And it is hard to believe what he has accomplished.



I wish I had Bill Gate's bank account.

As of right now, nobody would want to be him. He's probably in Redmond frantically trying to solve the Source Code leak.

 

[Mr. Robin Parsons]

If you look at smartest in the sense of "knowledgability" then you find many many specialized people in the world, many of them the top in their field, hence "the smartest person in the world" in that category, or class, right? but a good generalist, ceding to all the specialists, will in the end, be able to make connections between the specialities, that the specialist's themselves, cannot, or do not, make, because of their 'speciality'...more in the direction, if it holds in general view, after presentation the work of genius...that becomes 'seen' as the smartest, but it is an unfair title, to begin with, because of it's 'diversablitiy'...

So without evidence of the work of a Genius, we are left with a notion that is fun but unfulfilling, or perhaps too easily fillable on individual biases...

 

[The_Professional]

Originally posted by Mr. Robin Parsons
Then they are in 'self denial' and that isn't very smart, now is it?

Humble perhaps

 

[Thallium]

My mom and my astronomer fellow are two of the smartest I know of.

 

[Mentat]

Originally posted by Monique
I think arrogant behaviour and lack of discussion w/ other people is not smart either (coming forth of thinking to be the smartest of all).

I think a truly intelligent person admits the faults right along with the virtues. Thus, the most intelligent person would know that they were intelligent, but would never brag.

btw, I'm with chroot, Ed Witten is definitely the most intelligent person I know of (and Hawking does kind of suck, IMHO).

 

[Dagenais]

Originally posted by Mentat
I think a truly intelligent person admits the faults right along with the virtues. Thus, the most intelligent person would know that they were intelligent, but would never brag.

btw, I'm with chroot, Ed Witten is definitely the most intelligent person I know of (and Hawking does kind of suck, IMHO).

Hmmm...and why not William Gates?

Just wondering.

 

[jimmy p]

A lot of Physicists seem to be mentioned, what about other scientists? Are there no great chemists or biologists? If i had to vote i would say Bill Gates as well i suppose, because of above reasons AND all the hackers put viruses everywhere, but he deals with them.

Gates 1, Nerds/Geeks/Hackers 0

 

[one_raven]

Originally posted by jammieg
Not simply meant to butter anyone's biscuit but I would guess the smartest person in the world is oneself, if they have the desire and will and perserverance to change for the better, because no one can tell another what they have to do or must not or can or can't do but they can suggest the ways and it's up to oneself to climb or descend or be lazy, but sitting around talking about it leaves one to percieve the world as much as the complexity of their own mind perceives the world, and so one can learn a great deal from the savants as much as from the idiots because being wise should be the aim if they choose and accepting and understanding one's own idiocy is required to further that aim, the capacity to make change is more important than knowing anyone thing for absolute certainty, because change is evolution and everyone has the capacity to change a little or a lot of what they percieve that they can't, and learn from it, often I think people think they are stuck in life and they have given up but I doubt it, I think it's easier sometimes to give up and let others do the work and everyone has to rest from time to time but that doesn't mean people can't go back and try again, it's possible that this world is a reflection of everyone's mind so if one can figure out how to free up someone elses mind a bit they also learn to free up their own a bit, strange but true it seems.

That is a LOT of words to have only one period!

Why do so many people seem to think that self-confidence is such an abhorable trait?
If I am an intelligent person, would it be wrong to say, "I am an intelligent person."?
Granted, unwarranted self-confidence and cockienss is annoying to say the very least, but to be proud of who you are and your personal achievements should not be frowned upon at all.
Why is abject humility praised?

I think it is most likely rooted in jealousy of those that recognize that the speaker is being truthful, and have no valid criticizms to make.

 

[MacTech]

define smartest? Steve is no doubt a brilliant man with the highest iq, but is iq really the determinate that you want to define smart! if you were to consider the question of the smartest man ever, you probably would say Albert right? but with the grounds of only having iq as a determinate then Albert would in most views not be the smartest man ever. (link)

 

[Thallium]

Originally posted by MacTech
define smartest? Steve is no doubt a brilliant man with the highest iq, but is iq really the determinate that you want to define smart! if you were to consider the question of the smartest man ever, you probably would say Albert right? but with the grounds of only having iq as a determinate then Albert would in most views not be the smartest man ever. (link)

A very good point. Howver, I would appreciate somone with an IQ of 190 or 200(if that has ever been measured) as much as one with 160.

 

[The_Professional]

How come no one mentioned Richard Feynman, he's smart.

On a different note, people have told me I'm a smartass

 

[LeBrad]

Originally posted by The_Professional
How come no one mentioned Richard Feynman, he's smart.

Because he died in 1988.

Personally, I like Stephen Wolfram.

 

[Dagenais]

Originally posted by Thallium
A very good point. Howver, I would appreciate somone with an IQ of 190 or 200(if that has ever been measured) as much as one with 160.

Aren't IQ tests biased?

What if a person isn't good at taking timed tests?

 

[Mr. Robin Parsons]

What's the difference between being 'seen' as Smart and being 'seen' as a Genius?

 

[The_Professional]

Originally posted by LeBrad
Because he died in 1988.

Personally, I like Stephen Wolfram.

He's still alive...in a parallel universe that is

 

[Nereid]

Gro Brundtland
George Soros
Warren Buffett
Alan Greenspan
Linus Pauling
Andrew Wiles

... there's a human dimension to 'smart', to do with ability to succeed within the circumstances of your life. In this regard, the 'smartest' people today are almost certainly unknown to us. Ditto historically, but we can note a few:
- Hildegard von Bingen
- Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn Musa Al-Khwarizmi
- Srinivasa Aiyangar Ramanujan