I was curious about this. I'm an atheist, so I don't use any holy book as a guide to my life. But nonetheless, I do have people whose lives and teachings, I find highly applicable to myself and try to go by. I'm curious what people other members consider their "role models".
I have a lot of them, but here's a short few:
Richard Feynman
Albert Einstein
Timothy Leary
John Lennon
Ken Kesey
Franklin Roosevelt
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Last edited by King Kandy on Sep 12th, 2011 at 06:34 PM
In some ways, in some ways I think a lot of his advice is awful. But its not like you are bound to take 100%. Some people, I take lessons from even though they disagree with me on almost everything.
I'd include Feynman as well. Don't make things too complex, study the things that interest you, understanding breeds appreciation not dismissal, and so on.
Various writers that I've read over the years. Simmons, Banks, Shakespeare. I'd like to be a writer myself.
Skinner. I'm not a radical behaviorist but I do appreciate the desire to put scientific rigor in places that lack it. We can understand things if try to. Also I found this funny picture of him.
I can't say there are any religious or philosophical figures I'm especially enamored of. I like Bentham quite a bit but I find it difficult to support any self consistent sort of utilitarianism.
I don't have a wide enough or deep enough understanding of art, sports, poetry, and the like to have any role models there. All I know is the Old Masters are awesome and anything after Picasso is pointless without including an explanation.
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Graffiti outside Latin class.
Sed quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
A juvenal prank.
I love science, though I am a chemistry student not a physicist. But I am actually speaking more in reference to the moral/political views espoused by Einstein.
Not easy. I'm tempted to list writers, but enjoying their writing doesn't make them great role models. "Heroes" would have been an easier term to list. Role models implies a certain amount of emulation. I admire Jorge Luis Borges and love his writing, but the dude was chronically depressed and horribly self-deprecating. Not awful qualities, but not ones I'd wish to mimic. Same with, say, Shakespeare. Do I aspire to emulate the man or the characters he created? More of the latter.
With that in mind, this is a fairly rigid list of role models, not including several others I might list as personal heroes.
Snoopy (yes, really)
Joseph Campbell
Walt Whitman
Michael Shermer
Doctor Who
My brother
Two friends of mine, both named John. But I realize anonymous people aren't as relevant to KMC discussion.
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Sep 12th, 2011 06:31 PM
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