Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Re: Person of the Millenium -- Criteria

Author:Ian Beatty
Posted:11/30/1998; 12:58:18 PM
Topic:Person of the Millenium?
Msg #:589 (In response to 584)
Prev/Next:588 / 590

To choose a Person of the Millenium, we need a criterion. I'd humbly suggest defining the "Person of the Millenium" as the individual who most significantly impacted the course of human history during the last thousand years. If we want the award to be a "positive" thing, we could look for the most significant positive impact.

This definition will tend to rule out people from our era, as we don't yet have the perspective to judge their impact on history: it hasn't been writtenyet. Since we are naturally most aware of recent history and things that directly affect us, perhaps forcing us to look farther back is a good thing. I wish I remembered more from my history classes.

Note that I've suggested evaluating individuals on the permanent mark they leave behind, not just on their effect on the world of their time. This seems like the best choice to me, but it's subjective. Does anyone have alternative suggestions?

// Ian

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