Top 5 "Public" Intellectuals

[JohnG]

Richard Dawkins for #1-5

Well I know ONE person who would agree with you: Richard Dawkins.

[iceberg1459]

jesus

[ratchpot]

Well I know ONE person who would agree with you: Richard Dawkins.

Why do you say that? I would have thought Dawkins would be the first to admit that he didn't deserve to be nominated 1-5.

[JohnG]

Why do you say that? I would have thought Dawkins would be the first to admit that he didn't deserve to be nominated 1-5.

In interviews he comes off as an arrogant self-righteous [censored]. I am an atheist so I have no ax to grind with his ideas. But his personality is a huge turn off (for me anyway).

[Raijor]

... John Grinder co-developer of the the Neuro-science NLP. A linguist who co-wrote the books The Structure of Magic : Vols 1 and 2 which offers the methodology to a complete breakdown of English communication by native speakers allowing non-linguists to understand the structures of language. He also wrote the book Turtles all the way Down which breaks down the nature of thinking by Genius and then describes the thinking model and methodology used by geniuses so that it may be replicated by the people like myself who need a little help. Thanks John.

... Richard Bandler co-developer of the Neuro-science NLP A computer programmer who co-wrote the books The Structure of Magic : Vols 1 and 2 which offers the methodology to a complete breakdown of English communication by native speakers allowing non-linguists to understand the structures of language.

... Gregory Bateson deceased.... anthropologist ... social scientist .... linguist .... and cyberneticist whose work intersected that of many other fields and on whose shoulders many great minds stood.

... Fr. Malachi Martin PhD deceased ... Catholic Exorcist ... received doctorates in the Semitic Languages, Archeology and Oriental History.... former Jesuit ... expert on the Catholic Church ... a man who shone a light into the darkest recesses of the Catholic Church in search of the truth.

[ryyannon]

@Raijor:

Now, that looks like an interesting list. I've read a bit of Bateson as well as the (I believe it was) Stanford/Santa Cruz? group that he was associated with, and although it was I long time ago, I remember that it was good.

I don't know if it's related information, but the Systemic Analyist Mony Elkheim drew on Bateson's work to develop his theories of the interactions in dysfunctional families which I greatly enjoyed reading - being an entire dysfunctional family unto myself.

Your descriptions make me want to Google up some info on these guys and see what's up with them; thanks for posting them.

[Raijor]

@Raijor:

Now, that looks like an interesting list. I've read a bit of Bateson as well as the (I believe it was) Stanford/Santa Cruz? group that he was associated with, and although it was I long time ago, I remember that it was good.

I don't know if it's related information, but the Systemic Analyist Mony Elkheim drew on Bateson's work to develop his theories of the interactions in dysfunctional families which I greatly enjoyed reading - being an entire dysfunctional family unto myself.

Your descriptions make me want to Google up some info on these guys and see what's up with them; thanks for posting them.

A lot of great thinkers stood on Bateson's shoulders to look out and see where they could go with their own theories. Bandler and Grinder site him as a primary influence along with Dr Milton Ericson and Virginia Satir. I happen to live in Virginia Satir's home town and know people who worked with her. She was considered a brilliant family therapist who could help people make changes in one session after years dysfunction and inability to change. Dr Ericson's work as a psychiatrist led him to be known as the father of of clinical hypnosis. Another brilliant man who helped people make big changes in their lives after years of inability and to then be able to live better and happier lives.

Another person I should have mentioned in my post is Dr Robert Cialdini who teaches at the University of Utah. He has devoted his academic career to studying compliance by people in social interaction. He and his grad students have spent years creating experiments to determine why people comply with requests from others in various social interactions. I can no longer just go on auto pilot when I hear or read the word "Because" with out carefully thinking about what comes after it because of his work. It is brilliant stuff.

[sssurfer]

I was hoping Sssurfer would've replied, but perhaps now he will, Radiohead. I believe he admires the good don too.

Ops. Missed this thread until now (honestly, I noticed it only when looking for what happened to Vicky, who is missing since one week now).

No doubt, Richard Dawkins is the greatest contemporary thinker, and the 2nd one of all times, right after Darwin.

My all-time personal list:

1 - Charles Darwin

2 - Richard Dawkins

3 - Niels Bohr

4 - James McClelland

5 - myself