Greatest Modern Thinker?
June 19, 2008 – 10:53 pm by BHSuch a question is well beyond me, even if I limit it to disciplines I know well and only consider people who are still alive. Arnold Kling offers one view (EconLog):
If we go with the Internet or the Web as the greatest achievement of modern thought, then I think we have to give some credit to its governance structure, which I associate with Vinton Cerf. The governance structure is designed to minimize central authority and permanent government. The Internet protocols are put together by IETFs (internet engineering task forces) that assemble to solve problems and disband when the problems are solved. I fell in love with that concept the first time I saw Cerf explain it in 1993. You could say that right then and there I resolved to secede from the physical world and join the virtual one.
One way I’ve been thinking about this is by limiting the question to people I would like to listen to live. There are many great speakers, like Hernando DeSoto, that I’ve had the chance to learn from, but I would not want to see many repeat performances. Perhaps in economics I would like to hear Michael Porter, since he’s done so much in so many different areas.
