Which three people...

[Lee]

Simple question, which three people do you feel have helped shaped the 21st century into what it is today? You think you can come up with three? Well I'm going to bring a few little rules in here:

1) The person must not have ever been a politician of any sort (including royalty)

2) The person must have been born on or after 1st January 1950.

3) The person must be alive today.

I'll post my three later as I'm stuck on two...fire away.

 

[The Todd]

Well the person who has shaped the 21st century the most is banned due to his age, and that is Rupert Murdoch.

Onto the people that do qualify then, the undoubted number one is Tim Berners-Lee the guy who was credited with inventing the internet. The internet is the biggest, most powerful tool in the world right now. Everyone uses it and it stores information on a hell of a lot of people. Without the internet, life would be very, very different.

Mark Zuckerburg who was the geek who invented Facebook. Facebook is massive. It started as a thing for students, now it seems the whole world is on it. Facebook whas shaped the 21st century by making it simple for old friends to contact each other for free, ruining businesses like Friend Reunited in the making. Also, it cna be accredited to the so-called "dumbing down" of society. We have children who can't spell properly, others who are unhealthy due to sitting behind a computer screen all day, and others who don't know how to socialise with people as they can only communicate through typing.

Jeff Stelling is pretty much a joke one, but nontheless I'm sticking to it. Due to his talent at being an anchor he has given the country a brilliant show to watch on Saturday when their team is either away from home, or they can't afford to go to the game. He has given plenty of people near heart attacks, but he makes Saturday's when you don't go to the football bearable. He hasn't shaped the world, but he has shaped mine and every other football fans way of hearing the football results. Ridicule the decision all you want, but remove the internet and Jeff Stelling, and the world pretty much ends.

 

[Lee]

Steve Jerrrrrrbs

Go on a bus, a train, walk down the street, coffee shop...I can gurandamntee you will see someone with an ipod or an iphone. These simple devices have changed how people listen to music, how people get music. Why go to a record store to buy a CD when I can download it on itunes for half the price? I won't go into his influence on personal computers or his time at Pixar.

Oprah Winfrey

Someone once said she had as much influence over the female demographic in America than the pope does over Catholics. Aside from her talk shows she has done great charity work, she has backed the first Black president and with her book club has increased reading in the USA. Not bad at all!

Shigeru Miyamoto

Who I hear you say? Some guy at some company came up with a game called Donkey Kong and then Super Mario Bros and then Zelda and essentially saved the video games market. Now Video gaming is one of the biggest revenues in entertainment with Sony and Microsoft also having their input on this massive industry. If it's not someone with an iphone they'll have a DS.

 

[FromTheSouth]

I should say Barack Obama - Whether you like him or not, he is the definition of a post racial leader. He has proven that race and economic status mean nothing. Obama has proven that through hard work and manipulation of the media, anything is possible. He started his life as a poor black child, and has ascended to the most powerful position in the world. But, we can't use politicians.

1. Bill Gates - Everyone knows how to use Windows. All OS (even Apple) are based on Windows. His vision started as a way to make computers easier to use and accessible to anyone. Now he dominates computing, gaming, and I think he prints his own money. There isn't much to say that hasn't been said about him.

2. Tom - Tom, everyone's number one friend brought about the social networking craze with his creation Myspace. Sure, there were other sites before his, but Myspace begat the tightening of the global community. Social networking sites have close to fourtenn trillion members by my estimates. Everyone, except me, has one or the other, or the other, or...... These sites have opened up new avenues for employment, commerce, and crime. People can find jobs, sell items, stalk or initiate crimes from these sites. For better or for worse, every aspect of life has been affected by the websites that let you glitter paint your background.

3. Mark Burnett - Burnett created Survivor, other reality shows, and by doing so, spawned a million copy cat shows where the basic premise is to humiliate yourself and avoid getting voted off. Actors are prissy, demanding, and want to get paid. Why do that when you find a bunch of intellectual half wits and fuel them up with alcohol and put them in a room full of other attractive ******s and film the resulting sex and drama? These shows are ratings superstars, drawing so much more than they cost to make, making networks giant profits and sponsors happy. Television is dominated by these shows, which will stay on television forever, because they make boatloads of money for the networks.

 

[Lee]

1) The person must not have ever been a politician of any sort (including royalty)

1. Barack Obama - Whether you like him or not, he is the definition of a post racial leader. He has proven that race and economic status mean nothing. Obama has proven that through hard work and manipulation of the media, anything is possible. He started his life as a poor black child, and has ascended to the most powerful position in the world.

*FacePalm*


I said Tom to Dave, I think he is more important than Zuckerburg. Myspace lead to Facebook and ultimately Twitter. You can't argue the effect that Social Networking Sites has had on society whether you like it or not.

 

[Dave]

I have come up with a few names and I must say that I found this to be one of the hardest threads to come up with a response to.

The first person I want to name is Bill Gates. I know that he has already been covered but he is probably one of, if not thee, most important people in the world at this point and in the last decade. Since the invention of the home computer, their has never been a more important man. Bill Gates came up with the Windows operating system and has constantly worked on improving the system to make it the most dominant operating system in the world. Currently Windows owns a market share of 93% and with Windows 7 on the way, Windows only stands to improve that share.. It has become the standard that everyone shoots for and without Bill Gate's Windows OS, the world may be a very different place. Add to that his charities and his immense wealth, from both software and hardware. From gaming to personal computing. Gates is definitely one of the most important men who have ever lived.

The next "person" I want to name is, in fact, two people. With clearance from Lee, I have been given the chance to name both of these as one entity. For, it is the thing that they created that truly is what is the important aspect here. Those men are Sergey Brin and Larry Page. If you are not familiar with them allow me to enlighten you. Larry Page and Sergey Brin and the two men who invented Google in 1996. Since being made in January 1996, Google has gone from continuing strength to strength. It has evolved into a multi-billion dollar company and has taken over so many smaller companies. Culminating in one of the most dominant companies in the world wide web and the world. How different life might be without Google is unfathomable. They were the first people to collect the data of all the websites in the web and make it easy and accessible. Truly, a great invention and both men deserve all they get.

The last person I want to mention is Matt Groening. Now, anyone who knows me well enough to know my name, will know that I am a huge fan of animated comedy on TV. It is fair to say that without Matt Groening I would not be so loving of animated comedy and it is all because of The Simpsons. The Simpsons are celebrating their 20th Anniversary and still remain strong as ever. Groening has delivered some of the finest pieces of TV for two decades and has given birth to all of the animated comedy that now hoards our airwaves. Without Groening, would TV shows like Family Guy and South Park exist or be as successful? I don't think so.