I would be willing to wager that everyone is asked this question at least once during their lifetime. Having been asked several times – and having asked it of myself on more than one occasion – I was intrigued when I ran across The Six Thousand this morning (thanks, BoingBoing!), self-billed as:
6000 intriguing people you want to meet online before you die. Who will make the list tomorrow?
While I obviously recognize the general application of the concept, this is posted in “Nerd Stuff” because, at present, the list is almost entirely populated with people that nerds would want to meet.
On the list, Xeni Jardin, in particular, is one person that I’ve wondered about meeting recently. Two additions that I would like to see to The Six Thousand (disregarding the “online” part of its description) are Stephen Hawking and Jim Gray. Luckily, I was (serendipitously) included in a group discussion with the latter of the two. (Check! Only 5,999 to go!)
Personally, I would probably also have to add Linus Torvalds and Richard Stallman, despite their reputation (or at least Stallman’s) as something of an “acquired taste”. I’d better cut it short there, as I could probably continue in this vein all day. So…can you name 6,000 people you want to meet before you die?
December 21, 2005 at 11:42 am
100 people are enough .
for me.
for real.
December 21, 2005 at 1:36 pm
I could probably put serious dent in to my 6,000…but I’ve afraid not more than twenty or thirty of them would make the “Nerd-Cut” and prolly a quarter of those would be accounting nerds…
But I’ll list off a few people who might fit in to the vain of this blog-
1. Sid Meiers (Sorry ’bout the spelling)
2. Richard Feinman
3. Blaise Pascal
December 21, 2005 at 2:04 pm
Well, IBD…Simplicitas gets a comment from someone other than Joe!
Liu – I apologize on behalf of Dr. Cliff Pickover for the extravagant length of his list. Joe – are you talking about Richard Feinman – the SUNY nutritional biochemist – or Richard Feynman – the late Nobel-winning quantum physicist?
While I’m here, I thought of another person – this one not necessarily a nerd – whom I’d like to meet before I die: Shel Silverstein.
December 21, 2005 at 2:53 pm
Whatever happened to just wanting to meet Britney Spears or somebody like that…?
I must admit though, that meeting Blaise Pascal and asking him why in the world he made up his stupid triangle anyway would be kind of interesting.
December 21, 2005 at 6:57 pm
Excuse me, I definately meant Feynman. I read a book (by Eric Drexler) while in college that used his 1959 speech to the American Physical Society at Caltech as the basis for some interesting ideas in to what nano-technology “could be”.
At the time, I was completely blown away by a professor whose research had created bars of Silicon Carbide only angstroms (sp?) thick. The most fascinating part was that there wer not created by grinding down a larger bar, but were instead built-up.
June 25, 2008 at 4:01 pm
MACHOA.K.A. RAFAEL SANTIAGO IM LOOKIN FOR HIM
June 25, 2008 at 4:03 pm
MACHO
November 25, 2008 at 10:54 am
I want to meet my Grandpa Jack and grandma Lucy from North Carolina and grandpa Carl in New York. They really means to me. They’ve made my family’s life better and I really love them so much. I’m just hoping one day it will happen
January 23, 2009 at 3:21 pm
Jack Black and Jack White. The Ying and Yang Brothers.