Fuji's Smart Motherf*ckers!

[Fuji Vice]

Because we can't always look at the douche's of the world, and that's already Porkchop's gig anyway, I thought it might be nice to look at some of the more intelligent individuals throughout history. Individuals who shaped the world and the way that we look at it. It is my hope that through this thread you will take the time to look into some of these great men and women and learn a little more about how the world as we perceive it came to be. So with that in mind, here's our first entrant....

Thales of Miletus​

Thales of Miletus (624 BC - 546 BC) was a philosopher in Ancient Greece, active before the time of the more notable Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. He is widely regarded as the father of Western philosophy. He was the first individual of known record to attempt to explain natural phenomana (i.e earthquakes, lightning) without referring to mythology or the God's. He also used an early form of geometry to calculate the height of pyramids and the distance from ships to shore. He can be credited as the first true mathematician and was also the first known person to study electricity.

He is also credited with predicting the first solar eclipse (in 585 BC) and indeed without him such luminaries as Anaximander (teacher of Pythagoras), Aristotle and others would never have had a figure to inspire them. Truly a giant among men in a time of great turmoil, Thales was one smart motherfucker!

 

[TroyTheAverage]

Very nice Fuji. I like this idea.

We read a little bit about Thales of Miletus in Ethics class. I enjoyed reading about some of these guys. It was amazing some of the stuff they studied and did so without any technology that we have today and still came up with reasonable causes as to why or how something happened.

 

[Fuji Vice]

Very nice Fuji. I like this idea.

We read a little bit about Thales of Miletus in Ethics class. I enjoyed reading about some of these guys. It was amazing some of the stuff they studied and did so without any technology that we have today and still came up with reasonable causes as to why or how something happened.

Awesome Troy, glad you like it. I can imagine it also must have been pretty tough on guys like him when everyone else in those times was so willing to accept everything as the "will of the Gods". Clearly these people were ahead of their time by a long shot. I was just reading about him in a Stephen Hawking book and was fascinated at the amount of things he did in his life. It kind of makes me depressed when I think about how little I've actually done. :

 

[TroyTheAverage]

I get like that all the time when I read or hear about someone who has done so much in their lives, and they are like 20 or something.

 

[Fuji Vice]

I get like that all the time when I read or hear about someone who has done so much in their lives, and they are like 20 or something.

I feel even worse when I think of a guy like Stephen Hawking who has such physical limitations yet whose brain is clearly more advanced than anyone else's on the planet.

 

[TroyTheAverage]

I can't read anything he writes. I feel pretty stupid while reading it. :

 

[Fuji Vice]

I can't read anything he writes. I feel pretty stupid while reading it. :

I remember reading some of his papers when I was taking a Quantum Mechanics course in University and having to re-read them 7 or 8 times just to grasp a basic understanding of what he was talking about. Some of his books like A Brief History of Time or The Grand Design are written more for the layman but they are still so out there that its virtually impossible to comprehend how smart he must be.

One of my favourite things about him is that he's probably the only person who's ever come out and said that there are indeed alien life forms but that we shouldn't try to contact them because it would be "very bad for us". He likened them coming here to Columbus coming to the US, which didn't exactly work out well for the Native American's. :

 

[TroyTheAverage]

Well really, they shouldn't have been on our land before we got here.

My favorite line from Maverick.

But as far as Hawking, even the stuff that is wrote in layman's terms still feels over my head.

 

[Fuji Vice]

Well really, they shouldn't have been on our land before we got here.

My favorite line from Maverick.

But as far as Hawking, even the stuff that is wrote in layman's terms still feels over my head.

That much is true, goddamn injuns!

I think the trouble with any scientist who writes for the layman is that they are basically incapable of thinking like a layman, so even if it comes across perfectly simple to them it makes the rest of us go "doh". :

 

[Wang Chung]

Great Idea Fuji. Love it . Looking forward to more. I have a hard time with these ancient philosophers like this, because they are smarter than I will ever be and they lived over 2000 years ago. I do believe most of these guys where looked down upon and thought of as crazy and it wasn't until later on that we realized that they were the super genius's that they were.

 

[Fuji Vice]

Great Idea Fuji. Love it . Looking forward to more. I have a hard time with these ancient philosophers like this, because they are smarter than I will ever be and they lived over 2000 years ago. I do believe most of these guys where looked down upon and thought of as crazy and it wasn't until later on that we realized that they were the super genius's that they were.

Thanks man, glad you like the idea and yeah, its funny how practically nobody back then realized how smart they were. Hindsight is always 20/20.

Richard Phillips Feynman

Widely regarded as one of the ten greatest physicists of all time, Richard P. Feynman (1918 - 1988) was an American physicist who is most well known for his work in the field of Quantum Mechanics and Particle Physics. He is perhaps best remembered for his development of "Feynman Diagrams", which are simple mathematical expressions that govern the behaviour of subatomic particles.

Aside from this, Feynman also helped build the atomic bomb and was part of the panel that investigated the Shuttle Challenger disaster. One can also call him the father of QED (Quantum Electrodynamics), for which he shared a Nobel Prize. Feynman's easy to understand writings have provided the basis for many students of physics to formulate theories on the creation of the universe and the corellation between Quantum Mechanics and Special Relativity.

Let's put it this way, without Feynman, its entirely possible that we'd still fail to grasp a basic understanding of the properties of electrons, something that is becoming increasingly important in our quest to understand how the universe came to be.

Richard Feynman, you were one smart motherfucker!

 

[TroyTheAverage]

I can't say I have ever heard of him. But damn, I should stay out of here cause I feel so dumb.

 

[Fuji Vice]

I can't say I have ever heard of him. But damn, I should stay out of here cause I feel so dumb.

Actually his stuff is really easy to read (not like Hawking's where it says it is but its not). And you're not allowed to stay out of here because I love the comments! :

 

[TroyTheAverage]

I am going to look him up tonight when I get home from work. Do a little reading.

 

[Wang Chung]

Another smart man. So much smarter than me but he was smarter than the majority of us so i don't feel so bad

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