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Old September 7, 2006, 12:50 PM
Hugh Gaugler
 
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Default Greatness and Relativity

Quote:
Originally Posted by MichaelRoss View Post
In which case, Dien's PhD means he added to the human knowledge pool stuff that wasn't known before. As a result, he likewise would be a Great man, would he not?

Seems like greatness is relative . . . Einstein may have been a great man as a physicist, but lousy as a father (don't know that, just using it as a hypothetical). And certainly, one's concept of who is or is not great is a personal thing. Steve Irwin touched many people and turned off some. "Great" to some, a "jerk" to others. As I said, I liked him, his style and what he did with his life . . . so I can only say, again, he was great in my book. He was obviously great with animals . . . I remember seeing him calm down a nervous rattle snake to the point where the snake was comfortable with Steve holding on to its tail. The man could definitely get in touch with those "lesser beings". (And here, some would say he was a crazy fool for doing that . . . but to me, it was "Wow, this guy knows how to communicate with a wild snake and calm it down." It was actually an amazing thing to see, with Steve explaining what he was doing and how the snake was "feeling" as he calmed it down and became its friend.)

So, yes, I'd say Dien would fall somewhere in there on a scale of relative greatness. [Probably just a notch below Einstein : ) ] In any case, I think he's great for his contribution re this forum!

---- Hugh
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