Who are your role models?

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

Whether you believe in him or not Jesus had a lot of good advice thumbup

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.

Originally posted by King Kandy
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.

Out of curiosity what advice did Christ give you feel was awful?

Originally posted by theICONiac
Out of curiosity what advice did Christ give you feel was awful?

"Turn the other cheek" can be disastrous at times.

Originally posted by Robtard
"Turn the other cheek" can be disastrous at times.

Only disasterous when one party does not subscribe to the same philosophy 🙂

Originally posted by King Kandy
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

Curious about some of your picks...

Einstein? Are you a physicist?

Timothy Leary? Do you follow a similiar lifestyle (which would probably disqualify you from being a physicist 😉 )

God
Jesus
Holy Spirit
The Angels
Santa
The Easter Bunny
Tooth Fairy
And the gay elf who wants to be a dentist

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.

Walter Payton.
My mother.
Jesus Christ.
James (my god-brother).
Rosa Parks.
My Grandfather.
Marie Curie.
And the latest addition:

Stephen Hawking. He may be right, afterall. (The Bet).

Originally posted by theICONiac
Timothy Leary? Do you follow a similiar lifestyle (which would probably disqualify you from being a physicist 😉 )

you know Leary was a world renown psychologist who designed many of the psychiatric tests still in use today?

Originally posted by theICONiac
Einstein? Are you a physicist?

Timothy Leary? Do you follow a similiar lifestyle (which would probably disqualify you from being a physicist 😉 )

And where's your PhD?

Those who immediately come to mind...

My dad
My wife
Leo Bucaglia
Carl Sagan
Superman / Silver Surfer (yeah, I said it)
Any enlightened being in history.

Who used to be on the list: Ah-nuld

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.

Eliezer Yudkowsky
Richard Feynman
Brandon Sanderson
Albert Camus

Originally posted by inimalist
you know Leary was a world renown psychologist who designed many of the psychiatric tests still in use today?

Quite.

Although take away the drugs and he loses that certain pizazz, no?

Originally posted by King Kandy
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.

And where's your PhD?

I have a diploma from the Stratford Career Institute. BEAT THAT! 😛

Just curious as to why Einstein would be your role model is all...

Originally posted by theICONiac
Quite.

Although take away the drugs and he loses that certain pizazz, no?

you mean take away a central part of a person's development and experience and they become someone different?

obvious points are obvious too, aren't they?

Originally posted by inimalist
you mean take away a central part of a person's development and experience and they become someone different?

obvious points are obvious too, aren't they?

Exactly!

Had King Kandy mentioned Freud/Pavlov/Jung etc. no one would nary bat an eye...but Leary? First thing that comes to mind is...wait for it, DRUGS!

Originally posted by theICONiac
Exactly!

Had King Kandy mentioned Freud/Pavlov/Jung etc. no one would nary bat an eye...but Leary? First thing that comes to mind is...wait for it, DRUGS!

so you are trying to mock Kandy because you have a superficial level understanding of Tim Leary's impact on science and society?