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General => General Discussion => Topic started by: Super Dude on July 30, 2012, 07:13:05 PM
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I know that's a pretty broad description, but who do you believe is the single most famous person who's still living? The most known, renowned, and loved, if I did have to tack a definition to it.
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Hef.
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Barack Obama?
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Obama.
Although that doesn't necessarily fit your description of renowned and loved, considering not everyone supports him. But that's the first name that comes to mind for most famous living person.
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Mickey Mouse.
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Are you talking US or does the rest of the world count?
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The whole damn world.
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I'm going to guess Amitabh Bachchan or Dilip Kumar. Not sure whether there is any way to independently verify the correct answer though.
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I'm going to guess Amitabh Bachchan. Not sure whether there is any way to independently verify the correct answer though.
I verified it. You're right.
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I'm going with Lionel Messi.
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Mickey Mouse.
Is he alive?
Probably something like David Beckman, Bill Gates or Julian Assange.
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If it's a sports player, it won't be Messi. He would only be known by someone who follows sports. Beckham is known outside of sports because he's married to Posh Spice. I am guessing Michael Jordan is internationally famous, and Yao Ming is famous in the China and America...that's got to count for a lot of people.
I would think that Bill Gates would be famous in any first world country, as well as some third world countries due to his charity work, and he isn't defined by a niche catagory like sports since computers are ubiquitous now. So I'd probably go with him. I don't know how many non-Americans would know Barack by name, maybe he would be - but I'm trying to not be American-biased.
Well, a group of people tried to make Joseph Kony the most well known person :neverusethis:
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Mickey Mouse.
Is he alive?
Probably something like David Beckman, Bill Gates or Julian Assange.
I doubt most people in 3rd world countries have a clue who any of those people are .
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I'm going with Lionel Messi.
I've never even heard of him.
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Well he's got 37,5M likes on his facebook page. I've never seen somebody with more likes.
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I was actually being serious with my Mickey Mouse suggestion. I believe that he is the most popular figure in the world, though the prompt was technically for a living person. On the whole, symbols are well-known, but people aren't necessarily able to be universally known like Mickey Mouse is because they have specific cultural appeals.
Besides Mickey, Barack Obama is, I think, the best answer I've heard so far. This is an American figure that is wildly well-known in both modernized Western countries and 3rd world African countries alike. (I'm not sure about the other countries, but I think it's a safe bet that he's well-known there too.)
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I agree with Nekov. I think Lionel Messi is the most famous person alive.
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Barack Obama, I'd guess. Although I'd have no way of knowing, as I don't talk to many people from outside the USA.
Also, Jesus.
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Queen Elizabeth II
The first person that popped in my mind.
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Messi is probably right up there in most of the world, except maybe the US since they aren't really football fans.
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I agree with Nekov. I think Lionel Messi is the most famous person alive.
I've never heard of him.
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Messi is actually a good answer to the question.
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Personally, I would go with either Bill Gates, or my first choice which was Paul McCartney. Paul is literally legendary, something I was thinking after seeing him on the Olympics broadcast.
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James Cameron
....... Seriously
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James Cameron
....... Seriously
For shittiest director?
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James Cameron
....... Seriously
I really doubt tons of people outside of a devoted fan base or "film buffs" give two shits about the guy.
I have to second the Bill Gates suggestion though. Either him or, honestly, Barack Obama. Though he may not be the most well-loved (at least here at home), he does seem to be a president with quite a big "cult of personality" around him, and not for coming across as an idiot like George "nucular" Dubya.
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ITT: People name people they are personally fond of
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I think some of you fail to realize that a VERY large portion of earth is NOT western or 1st world.
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I like the McCartney suggestion. I take it Messi is a soccer player... never heard of him.
How about Nelson Mandela? Dalai Lama? Oprah Winfrey?
Adami. I think we have to rule out what ... about 1-2 Billion people who have little/no access to media or print? Clearly, there isn't going to be a single individual who's famously known to that collective demographic.
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Wasn't it determined to be Michael Jackson a few years ago?
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Adami. I think we have to rule out what ... about 1-2 Billion people who have little/no access to media or print? Clearly, there isn't going to be a single individual who's famously known to that collective demographic.
That doesn't mean they don't know some people. You can't just ignore them. The question is about the most famous person in the world, and ignoring 20% of the people in the world defeats that purpose.
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Adami. I think we have to rule out what ... about 1-2 Billion people who have little/no access to media or print? Clearly, there isn't going to be a single individual who's famously known to that collective demographic.
That doesn't mean they don't know some people. You can't just ignore them. The question is about the most famous person in the world, and ignoring 20% of the people in the world defeats that purpose.
Well that's exactly my point. People like that football player are likely only known to western 1st world country people, and even then only some of them since a good amount of people in this thread had never heard of him. Same with Bill Gates. If we only name people that only 1st world westernized people have heard, we DO miss the purpose.
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Paul McCartney
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Paul McCartney
Dear god when I saw you posted in this thread I seriously thought you were going to say Mark Tremonti.
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Messi is probably the biggest footballer at the moment (whether you're a fan of him or not), and football is the biggest sport in the world. Just sayin.
Paul McCartney
him too.
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Messi? Mark Tremeloti? Who the hell are these people?
I'm glued to media at least 3-4 hours a day and these names are alien to me.
McCartney...definitely...
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Messi is known all around South America, which is not the case of many people named in this thread, like Paul McCartney...
EDIT : Well, maybe Christiano Ronaldo is more famous. He has 47M likes on his FB page.
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A considerable proportion of the world does not have Facebook, and you can't reliably use Facebook likes to gauge how many people who don't use Facebook have heard of him.
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A considerable proportion of the world does not have Facebook, and you can't reliably use Facebook likes to gauge how many people who don't use Facebook have heard of him.
Messi is huge.
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A considerable proportion of the world does not have Facebook, and you can't reliably use Facebook likes to gauge how many people who don't use Facebook have heard of him.
Messi is huge.
You're also a huge sports fan.
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I loathe soccer and couldn't tell you anything about it. Other than Messi
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Mickey Mouse.
Is he alive?
Probably something like David Beckman, Bill Gates or Julian Assange.
I doubt most people in 3rd world countries have a clue who any of those people are .
Bill Gates has probably done more to help people in 3rd world countries than many of their governments have...
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A considerable proportion of the world does not have Facebook, and you can't reliably use Facebook likes to gauge how many people who don't use Facebook have heard of him.
But being one of the most, if not the most popular person on FB gives a good idea of who's more famous.
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J.K. Rowling, maybe.
From England to the whole world I think she is mostly loved by many, including adults. And I think, Messi is a valid answer as well.
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Good luck finding someone who hasn't heard of Arnold Schwarzenegger.
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My first thought when I saw the thread title was Paul McCartney. I think Bill Gates and Lionel Messi are also good calls as far as most famous person.
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I had to look up who Lionel Messi is.
I don't think sports heroes are the right candidates for this sort of thing. Same with musicians. I think it's pretty obvious that the most known person currently alive throughout the entire world would have to be Obama.
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Good luck finding someone who hasn't heard of Arnold Schwarzenegger.
For most of his life, tough rugged L.A. cop Jack Slater had never heard of Arnold Schwarzenegger. And even when he did, he couldn't get his last name right.
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I'm a sports fan...I follow football, baseball, basketball and hockey...and even mildly follow my local MLS team.
I have never heard of Lionel Messi until this moment. Which sport does he play?
EDIT: I'm guessing soccer since I follow that a little less than the others.
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I think Christiano Ronaldo is more famous than Messi though.
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Queen Elizabeth II
The first person that popped in my mind.
Correct. It is the Queen. Or so I have read :P
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Me.
Obviously.
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Queen Elizabeth II
The first person that popped in my mind.
Correct. It is the Queen. Or so I have read :P
The OP clearly stipulated that the character in question has to be a PERSON. Not a woman.
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The Queen of England
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Her Majesty's a pretty nice girl...
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Queen Elizabeth II
The first person that popped in my mind.
Correct. It is the Queen. Or so I have read :P
This was my first thought as well, can't see who else it could be.
The OP clearly stipulated that the character in question has to be a PERSON. Not a woman.
:lol
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Why does Great Britain still have a royal family :facepalm:
*wasted tax money*
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The OP clearly stipulated that the character in question has to be a PERSON. Not a woman.
:rollin
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Yar, I'd say the queen. Only person in the world who does not require a passport.
Now that's pretty famous, right?
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How about Nelson Mandela? Dalai Lama? Oprah Winfrey?
This is probably the best answer I've seen so far.
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Adami, I want a serious answer from you. Especially because I didn't consider that much of the non-Western world probably might not know who Gill Bates or Paul McCartney are (although I would contend that the latter is more likely, since the Beatles toured literally almost everywhere in the world).
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Messi? Mark Tremeloti? Who the hell are these people?
I've never heard of them either. Never even seen the names before this thread.
I guess it's hard for people to think globally when we're surrounded by our own relatively narrow culture. I'd think people like the Queen and the Pope would be really well known, although again I see this being limited to certain areas of the world.
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Actually yeah, the Pope probably stands a good chance. I know his reach certainly extends to the Third World.
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Carly Rae Jepsen
CLICK ME CLICK ME CLICK ME CLICK ME! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LM6PO6WtEDc)
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Adami. I think we have to rule out what ... about 1-2 Billion people who have little/no access to media or print? Clearly, there isn't going to be a single individual who's famously known to that collective demographic.
That doesn't mean they don't know some people. You can't just ignore them. The question is about the most famous person in the world, and ignoring 20% of the people in the world defeats that purpose.
But you can. If 20% of the world don't know any one individual consistently, then the "most" famous person will be the one that the rest of the 80% do know. That would still make them the most famous person in the world.
I like the Pope suggestion.
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Pope, Queen Elizabeth or Obama.
And seriously at people in here that don't even RECOGNIZE the name Messi? what?
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How about Nelson Mandela? Dalai Lama?
I thought about these two too.
So, is Messi the most famous soccer player around these days? A famous soccer player is a good answer, because soccer is the biggest sport in the whole world. But are Péle or Diego Maradona even more famous? Or that overrated Beckham?
Obama is of course famous, maybe I'll go with him. Putin is a pretty good choice also, I think, but I don't know, who is leading China now.
Or actually I know. The ghost of Mao Zedong.
Carly Rae Jepsen
Maybe.
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Messi is Messi.
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Who the hell is messi? If that question has to be asked by anyone they can't be the most famous person in the world. Honestly It would probably be George Bush. If you think about it... there probably isn't anyone on the planet that hasn't heard his name.
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Who the hell is messi? If that question has to be asked by anyone they can't be the most famous person in the world. Honestly It would probably be George Bush. If you think about it... there probably isn't anyone on the planet that hasn't heard his name.
united states =/= the whole world.
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Obama is the leader of America and seems to be a particularly famous one. Lets say the entirety (or as close to it as is possible) of North America know who he is. We can probably throw in basically all of Europe as well. Australia and other Westernised countries too. Do people in South America know much about the USA? I'm not really sure, but from what little I know I'd imagine a decent portion of people in Central and South America stand a good chance of having heard of Obama.
People in the Middle East stand a decent chance of having heard of the leader of the USA, given its activities there. I'm sure plenty of Japanese people know who he is as well. As for China and India? I don't really have any idea, as I don't really know anyone who lives there so have no clue what the average citizen of those countries knows about the rest of the world. But given the pervasiveness of America in the media and the general ignorance of people in the West about other cultures, my guess is that knowledge of the USA is at least as penetrative of China and India as knowledge about those countries is penatrative of USA and other Western countries (i.e. it's unlikely the people in the west know more about Chinese and Indian culture than they know about Western culture). I don't know if there is one figure who is universally known across both India and China - if there is then there's probably a decent chance that could be the most famous person in the world. But if figures are only likely to be universally known within one or the other of those countries, I think it's unlikely they'd be the most famous person in the world - someone universally known within China but relatively unknown outside it would only be known by a billion and a half people. And given the large proportion of people in India and China living in completely rural areas, the chances of any one person so pervasively known aren't as high - especially across both countries.
I completely get that the entire world isn't America, and people in third world countries may not know anything about America, and that places like China and India may have lots of people who don't either, and they make up nearly half the world's population. And I get that my knowledge of famous people is just that of someone from the UK. But I'd still make the case that someone like Obama is very likely the most famous living person in the world. The people who have not heard of him are more likely to be people disconnected from the worldwide media, and hence are unlikely to have any single person known to all of them. And America is the biggest media-whore, so if people know anything about worldwide affairs, it's likely they'll know at least something about the USA. Hell, the most famous person in the world could theoretically be known to only a small proportion of the world population, if the rest of the people in the world don't share knowledge of any other single person.
Edit: The Pope and The Queen are decent candidates as well. For The Pope though, how many people in the world could actually tell you the current Pope's name offhand? Significantly less than people who know the title exists, I'll guess.
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What the fuck is a Messi? I've never even heard of this dude until this thread, so I don't know how he could be the most famous person in the world. But is there anyone here at all who hasn't heard of the Queen or the Pope? I doubt you could avoid knowing of them even if you tried, they're that well known. And I can't imagine anywhere where people are familiar with a sports player, but not the Queen and the Pope.
Plus even though soccer is the most popular sport in the world, USA still doesn't relatively care as much for it as far as I know (and we seem to have plenty of US people in here who have never heard of him, which would support that), and there are other countries too. Sport is always going to be a regional thing.
When it comes to soccer, the only guys I've even heard of are Beckham, Pele and Maradona, and I would only recognize one of those on the street.
edit: And I can't speak for any other country, but even though I'm from Australia, the American president is always big news here, and there is nobody who would not be familiar with him. I'm sure the same holds true for many other places too.
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The people, who haven't heard of Messi; here are MLB/NBA/NFL-players/ex-players I can remember:
MLB
Babe Ruth
Mark McGwire
NBA
Wilt Chamberlain
Larry Bird
Michael Jordan
"Magic" Johnson
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Kobe Bryant
Shaq O'Neill
Paul Davis
Jeremy Li
Pau Gasol
NFL
Peyton Manning
Eli Manning
Dan Marino (Ace Ventura :laugh:)
I know more, but I just don't remember them now. Basketball is medium-sized sport here, so I know something about it.
Your sports are weird, says the other world.
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Abdul Kareem-Jabbar
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kareem_Abdul-Jabbar
so close
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I'm sorry, I know his real name, but I mistyped it :facepalm:.
E: This is really an interesting topic.
Even though Obama probably is the most famous, is he, or the other candidates known in North Korea, which is still very isolated. But I don't think that Kim Jong-Un, who is the only "celeb" there, is well-known for example in Southern Africa. But Obama and co. are still very famous, even though appr. 24 million people don't know about them.
But who is the most famous musician? Maybe McCartney. ABBA members aren't as famous, but how about Madonna?
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I'm sorry, I know his real name, but I mistyped it :facepalm:.
:) I don't like basketball, but Kareem is the shit.
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My guesses would be Obama or Lady Gaga. I know for a fact that five year old kids here in Taiwan know who Obama is.
Michael Jackson would've dominated this while still alive though. I wear a hat everywhere I go, and a few weeks ago, when walking into work, I had a four year old kid call me Michael Jackson. MJ's been dead almost as long as he's been alive, and the kid still knew who he was.
Never heard of Messi in my life.
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Obama is the safest bet.
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My guesses would be Obama or Lady Gaga. I know for a fact that five year old kids here in Taiwan know who Obama is.
Michael Jackson would've dominated this while still alive though. I wear a hat everywhere I go, and a few weeks ago, when walking into work, I had a four year old kid call me Michael Jackson. MJ's been dead almost as long as he's been alive, and the kid still knew who he was.
Never heard of Messi in my life.
Michael Jackson was my pick for this when I was asked a few years ago, before his death.
I know who Messi is but I really don't think he could be the most famous - football is extremely popular here but I still know as many people who don't know or care about football at all as there are people who follow it, and it's likely many of those people will have never heard of Messi.
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united states =/= the whole world.
But I could say the same thing about the Queen and the UK. The most known people in the world have to be the US President, the Queen, and the Pope.
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Anybody suggesting Messi must be out of their mind.
Barack Obama is indeed the correct answer.
rumborak
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Anybody suggesting Messi must be out of their mind.
Why? He is the most popular sports player nowadays. He even got named the most influential person in 2012 by Time magazine. The thing about sports it that it goes beyond countries, language, social class or age. I doubt there are lots of kids around the world that are interested in politics enough to know who Obama is.
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Anybody suggesting Messi must be out of their mind.
Why? He is the most popular sports player nowadays. He even got named the most influential person in 2012 by Time magazine. The thing about sports it that it goes beyond countries, language, social class or age. I doubt there are lots of kids around the world that are interested in politics enough to know who Obama is.
You don't need to care about politics to know who Obama is. If you don't care about soccer, you very likely don't know who Messi is. We've already had several people in this thread who have never even heard of Messi, including myself.
But I can't imagine any level of disinterest in politics would avoid being familiar with Obama. I can't imagine any level of disinterest in religion would make you oblivious to the Pope. And nobody cares about the royal family, but everyone knows the Queen. It's only logical to me that a sports person is not going to be as well known as someone in those kinds of positions of real power and fame.
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"several people in this thread"
well, glad we have the whole world in this thread.
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I've never heard of Messi either.
The first people I thought of were the Pope, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Obama. People can scoff at mentions of three U.S. presidents (two former, the other current), but as arguably the most powerful nation in the world (or has China overtaken us yet? :P), it goes without saying that most people around the world will have at least heard of our most famous recent presidents.
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The only reason I've heard of Messi is that my father is very into his football. I predict in ten years, I will have forgotten the name, as will most people.
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"several people in this thread"
well, glad we have the whole world in this thread.
It's already establishing a trend of people not knowing who the hell he is at all. Nobody in this thread has said "Who the hell is Obama?" or "Queen who?".
This isn't rocket science. He's obviously not as famous as many other names mentioned in this thread. And I'd expect these names are more famous the world over than someone who plays a sport.
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SSS
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Queen who?
The Band?
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Queen who?
The Band?
:lol
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Queen who?
The Band?
:lol Sure, why not.
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I wonder where Osama Bin Laden ranked when he was still alive.
Also, never heard of Messi.
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Adami, I want a serious answer from you. Especially because I didn't consider that much of the non-Western world probably might not know who Gill Bates or Paul McCartney are (although I would contend that the latter is more likely, since the Beatles toured literally almost everywhere in the world).
Obama, The Queen and Bush are good answers. While the Pope is an interesting idea, I'd say his position is more popular than he is. It wouldn't surprise me if lots of people in the world didn't know who the current pope is.
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Anybody suggesting Messi must be out of their mind.
Why? He is the most popular sports player nowadays. He even got named the most influential person in 2012 by Time magazine. The thing about sports it that it goes beyond countries, language, social class or age. I doubt there are lots of kids around the world that are interested in politics enough to know who Obama is.
You don't need to care about politics to know who Obama is. If you don't care about soccer, you very likely don't know who Messi is. We've already had several people in this thread who have never even heard of Messi, including myself.
But I can't imagine any level of disinterest in politics would avoid being familiar with Obama. I can't imagine any level of disinterest in religion would make you oblivious to the Pope. And nobody cares about the royal family, but everyone knows the Queen. It's only logical to me that a sports person is not going to be as well known as someone in those kinds of positions of real power and fame.
I think that you need to be from a certain social class in order to care about politics, even more about international politics. And as far as the Pope, I'd say there are lots of people that don't even know about Christianity. I understand and agree that there's a lot of people that are not into sports and even so lots of them don't care about football but for everyone we mention there is a very good argument on why they could be unknown.
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Surely 'The Queen'. Obama hasn't been in the public eye nearly as long although is potentially a #2.
Michael Jackson probably wasn't far off when he was alive.
Beckham >> Messi in terms of how famous.
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Alive: Obama
Dead: Michael Jackson
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Caring about politics is not the same as simply having heard of Obama, for example.
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What's the criteria here? That if you ask a random person on the street they have heard the name? Or do they have to know something about the person (Messi plays football, Obama is the US president, etc...)?
My first thought was Michael Jackson. For as much as he is known it the US, he seems much more popular and well-known in other countries.
Indeed, Adami, the positions of Pope and Queen might be more well known that those individuals who hold those titles. 1 billion Chinese probably know England has a Queen, it isn't exactly a recent development, but might not know her name.
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1 billion Chinese probably know England has a Queen, it isn't exactly a recent development, but might not know her name.
It's Mindy, right?
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My first thought was Michael Jackson. For as much as he is known it the US, he seems much more popular and well-known in other countries.
Absolutely
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"several people in this thread"
well, glad we have the whole world in this thread.
If he's not even the most famous person in this thread there is literally no chance whatsoever that he's the most famous person alive in the world.
We're not a 100% representative sample, but we're not that unrepresentative either. He might be the emperor of whatever niche it is he's carved himself into, but outside that niche it's clear that it's very easy to completely overlook him. Especially given that this board's a first world, mostly-Western society, with free access to technology and information. If we're an unrepresentative sample, we're probably erring on the side of over-representation than under-representation. We're a culture that's biased to be more aware of him, and half of us are still baffled.
The most famous person alive would almost certainly be someone everyone in this thread has heard of.
My first thought was Michael Jackson. For as much as he is known it the US, he seems much more popular and well-known in other countries.
Absolutely
"Living's" the kicker, there. I believe he was considered the most famous person in the world up until about this time three years ago, though.
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I honestly forgot MJ was dead :facepalm:
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I didn't forget, because it's not true...
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Well Rob, I seriously doubt that Western society with access to technology and information represents even 50% of the world.
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I think that you need to be from a certain social class in order to care about politics, even more about international politics.
But the US president is shown all the time on the internet and on TV all over the world, and whether you care for politics, you're going to be exposed to him, unless you're completely oblivious to all forms of media, in which case the same applies to anybody else mentioned here. I'm not from the US, and I don't care about politics, let alone politics in other countries, and I can't imagine anyone in this country not knowing who he is.
But by my count we have 8 people in this thread already who haven't even heard of Messi, a lot from the US where soccer isn't so popular, so that tells me he doesn't transcend his area of popularity as much as a president or the Queen etc. 8 people is a big enough number when you're trying to argue someone is the most famous person in the entire world.
Yes, we mostly represent western society here and aren't the entire world, but rob makes great points as far as that's concerned. I can't believe people are even still arguing it.
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As a futbal fan, I certainly know who Messi is. However, I'm not even sure Messi is the most popular person in sports...
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I cannot believe there are so MANY that haven't heard of Messi in this thread. I just can't wrap my head around it...
The most famous person alive would almost certainly be someone everyone in this thread has heard of.
Well, in that case, we all know the most famous person alive is Kevin Moore.
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I honestly forgot MJ was dead :facepalm:
Did he just say MJ was dead?
(https://mytodaytv.com/uploads/thumbs/2r6ig6yygy7ot4tb.jpg)
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"several people in this thread"
well, glad we have the whole world in this thread.
If he's not even the most famous person in this thread there is literally no chance whatsoever that he's the most famous person alive in the world.
SSS
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Well Rob, I seriously doubt that Western society with access to technology and information represents even 50% of the world.
Yes! That's kind of my point. Proximity, technology, and I'm living in a country where male football's the most dominant sport - all that stuff should increase our chances of knowing who Messi is well above the global average, and despite that there are clearly huge swathes of us who don't have a clue. If we've not all heard of him, what chance does the wider world have, where information isn't physically capable of travelling that fast?
"several people in this thread"
well, glad we have the whole world in this thread.
If he's not even the most famous person in this thread there is literally no chance whatsoever that he's the most famous person alive in the world.
SSS
https://www.acronymfinder.com/Slang/SSS.html
I feel like I'm missing something, p'raps?
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I think that you need to be from a certain social class in order to care about politics, even more about international politics.
But the US president is shown all the time on the internet and on TV all over the world, and whether you care for politics, you're going to be exposed to him, unless you're completely oblivious to all forms of media, in which case the same applies to anybody else mentioned here. I'm not from the US, and I don't care about politics, let alone politics in other countries, and I can't imagine anyone in this country not knowing who he is.
You say around the world just because it happens in Australia. In my country that doesn't happen and you are considering that most of the people in the world have access to a TV and the internet which I don't think is the case.
Let's say not Messi but it has to be a sport player and here is the reason why. If people have access to internet and TV then they are probably exposed to sports at some point in their daily life. For people that don't, sports is normally the way they use to kill boredom and that usually makes it become an interest to those people which will probably make them more exposed to sports. And aside from that, there are lots of countries that are only known because of their sport players which makes their people feel proud that they have someone that can put their name in the map and that makes them be more interested in that person and the sport he plays. Even in Europe where there's tons of 1st world countries they adore sport players.
So, a kid from let's say Ivory Coast who worships Didier Drogba because he's the best player they've ever had probably has heard about Beckham or Messi while it's not that likely that he knows who Obama or the Queen of England are.
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Sorry, I use it on a baseball forum a lot. SSS=small sample size.
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Guys...isn't it obvious??? May not be the most liked....but...
George Lucas ;D
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Sorry, I use it on a baseball forum a lot. SSS=small sample size.
That's cool!
I'd contend, though, that if someone's the most famous person on Earth, it should be very difficult to find someone who's not heard of them. And if we've already found eight within such a tiny - if admittedly unrepresentative - sample size, what are the odds that we've stumbled onto a profoundly unique corner of the internet?
It's like searching for traces of life on Mars. If one planet in an unimaginably vast universe has life on it, we have no idea whether it's the only one or not. It might be a freak - a tiny, cosmic accident, an almost impossible thing that just happened to occur somewhere. If we find the planet next door has life, too, then there's no way we're alone.
What this thread proves - or very heavily implies, despite its small sample size - is that you don't have to go far to find someone who doesn't know who Lionel Messi is.
Let's say not Messi but it has to be a sport player and here is the reason why. If people have access to internet and TV then they are probably exposed to sports at some point in their daily life. For people that don't, sports is normally the way they use to kill boredom and that usually makes it become an interest to those people which will probably make them more exposed to sports. And aside from that, there are lots of countries that are only known because of their sport players which makes their people feel proud that they have someone that can put their name in the map and that makes them be more interested in that person and the sport he plays. Even in Europe where there's tons of 1st world countries they adore sport players.
So, a kid from let's say Ivory Coast who worships Didier Drogba because he's the best player they've ever had probably has heard about Beckham or Messi while it's not that likely that he knows who Obama or the Queen of England are.
Thing is - and this is a sincere question, because I don't know how it applies to the broader globe - when you say "people," do you mean "men?" Because men's football is very freely accessible. Women's football, not so much.
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Also! With regard to the thread question - this might be a stupid guess... but would the Dalai Lama be a shout?
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I think that you need to be from a certain social class in order to care about politics, even more about international politics.
But the US president is shown all the time on the internet and on TV all over the world, and whether you care for politics, you're going to be exposed to him, unless you're completely oblivious to all forms of media, in which case the same applies to anybody else mentioned here. I'm not from the US, and I don't care about politics, let alone politics in other countries, and I can't imagine anyone in this country not knowing who he is.
You say around the world just because it happens in Australia. In my country that doesn't happen and you are considering that most of the people in the world have access to a TV and the internet which I don't think is the case.
Let's say not Messi but it has to be a sport player and here is the reason why. If people have access to internet and TV then they are probably exposed to sports at some point in their daily life. For people that don't, sports is normally the way they use to kill boredom and that usually makes it become an interest to those people which will probably make them more exposed to sports. And aside from that, there are lots of countries that are only known because of their sport players which makes their people feel proud that they have someone that can put their name in the map and that makes them be more interested in that person and the sport he plays. Even in Europe where there's tons of 1st world countries they adore sport players.
So, a kid from let's say Ivory Coast who worships Didier Drogba because he's the best player they've ever had probably has heard about Beckham or Messi while it's not that likely that he knows who Obama or the Queen of England are.
But you're talking one guy from a whole team in one particular sport. Why would I know this one specific guy if I was outside of the country/s that plays that sport, and didn't watch that sport? You're jumping from "most people like sport" to the most popular person in the world therefore being one specific person from one particular sport, albeit the most popular sport.
I don't know why you're discussing people without TV and internet, because they're probably not going to know any of these people, especially someone who only plays a sport.
I do not agree that the most popular person in the world is going to be a sports person at all, and I think you're underselling the exposure of a major world figure.
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@Blob: I'm saying that because I live in a third world country and I can tell you what I see happens with people that don't have access to the media all the time. I'm sure more people here know who Beckham is than who Obama is. And why one player from one team? In the case of Messi because he is considered to be the best player at the moment and people are already discussing whether or not he is the best player in the history of the sport and as you well said it's the most popular sport in the world. Even in India where they don't really follow football they got a stadium full of people when Argentina went there to play a friendly match against Venezuela.
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(I'm arguing Messi because his fans are 100% rabid and there is no use in arguing back)
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Bill Gates
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@ everyone saying Messi - Messi isn't even the most famous SOCCER PLAYER. I guarantee you that Pele and David Beckham are more well known, even if both are retired. Pele made soccer more popular, and made non-sports news. If you ask people of my generation who Pele is, even those who don't follow sports at all will know who he is. Same with David Beckham - and all you failtards seemed to ignore my last post. David is married to a famous person in the entertainment industry, and he his name is in a major Hollywood movie.
I'm going to lean toward the Pope now that other people mention it.
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@ everyone saying Messi - Messi isn't even the most famous SOCCER PLAYER. I guarantee you that Pele and David Beckham are more well known, even if both are retired. Pele made soccer more popular, and made non-sports news. If you ask people of my generation who Pele is, even those who don't follow sports at all will know who he is. Same with David Beckham - and all you failtards seemed to ignore my last post. David is married to a famous person in the entertainment industry, and he his name is in a major Hollywood movie.
I'm going to lean toward the Pope now that other people mention it.
Sorry for not mentioning your comment. Regarding Beckham and Hollywood, as I said before not everyone is exposed to movies and music as much as they are exposed to the pure sport.
As for Pele, he was very well known at the time and he still is to a certain extent but I still believe that worldwide Messi is more renown nowadays.
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^Yeah, I've heard of Pele and Beckham, even if I couldn't pick them out of a lineup.
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Add another tally under the 'has no idea who the fuck Messi is' category.
Obama and The Queen are the two most reasonable answers. Sure, plenty of people pay no attention to politics, but like Fluffy said, there are five year olds in Taiwan who know who he is. His visibility extends far outside of the bubble of people who are politically informed.
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@ everyone saying Messi - Messi isn't even the most famous SOCCER PLAYER. I guarantee you that Pele and David Beckham are more well known, even if both are retired. Pele made soccer more popular, and made non-sports news. If you ask people of my generation who Pele is, even those who don't follow sports at all will know who he is. Same with David Beckham - and all you failtards seemed to ignore my last post. David is married to a famous person in the entertainment industry, and he his name is in a major Hollywood movie.
I'm going to lean toward the Pope now that other people mention it.
Right. I don't follow any sports at all, and even though the rest of my family does, they also don't like soccer/football. I may not know Messi, but even I've heard of Pele.
That said, I'll say again: Obama, the Queen, the Pope, maybe the Dalai Lama.
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not everyone is exposed to movies and music as much as they are exposed to the pure sport.
If they aren't exposed to media, then the only way for them to have heard of a specific sports player is by word of mouth.
Word of mouth is also a perfectly reasonable way for them to have heard of other people mentioned in this thread, like Obama and the Queen.
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Just to throw a name out there, how about Madonna. Long term, succesful pop star with international acclaim and appeal. She's gotta be pretty high on the list.
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I think Madonna's fame is dying out. I bet she won't be that famous in another generation or so.
Then again, neither will Obama.
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Let me simplify this. Soccer fans know Pele, Beckham, and Messi.
Casual sports fans Pele and Beckham.
People who don't care about soccer, but followed pop culture probably heard of Beckham either through being married to Posh, his commericals, or the fact that there is a movie called "Bend It Like Beckham"
ergo, Beckham > Messi.
like I said, I'm not arguing he's the most famous, just the most famous soccer player.
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I think Madonna's fame is dying out. I bet she won't be that famous in another generation or so.
Then again, neither will Obama.
True, but she does have two generations of fame behind her. Not quite MJ levels, but for a pop star, I would put her at a possible second.
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Yeah. Narrowing it down to the most popular pop star, I'd agree.
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James Cameron
....... Seriously
For shittiest director?
Michael Bay
Joel Schumacher
McG
M. Night Shyalmalan.
None of these people ever made Terminator, The Abyss, Terminator 2 or True Lies.
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Anybody suggesting Messi must be out of their mind.
Why? He is the most popular sports player nowadays. He even got named the most influential person in 2012 by Time magazine. The thing about sports it that it goes beyond countries, language, social class or age. I doubt there are lots of kids around the world that are interested in politics enough to know who Obama is.
You don't need to care about politics to know who Obama is. If you don't care about soccer, you very likely don't know who Messi is. We've already had several people in this thread who have never even heard of Messi, including myself.
But I can't imagine any level of disinterest in politics would avoid being familiar with Obama. I can't imagine any level of disinterest in religion would make you oblivious to the Pope. And nobody cares about the royal family, but everyone knows the Queen. It's only logical to me that a sports person is not going to be as well known as someone in those kinds of positions of real power and fame.
I think that you need to be from a certain social class in order to care about politics, even more about international politics. And as far as the Pope, I'd say there are lots of people that don't even know about Christianity. I understand and agree that there's a lot of people that are not into sports and even so lots of them don't care about football but for everyone we mention there is a very good argument on why they could be unknown.
I think you're missing the point - an interest in politics is irrelevant. People like the Queen or the US President are ALL over the world, and all over the news, and whether you have any interest in it or not, you're aware of them. Messi is such a complete unknown in comparison, even Beckham is vastly more famous than him and I'd say he's still nowhere near the others.
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On my trip around the world I met a lot of people who hadn't heard of a lot of things. But even in the remotest point on Earth I was pretty damn sure they knew who Obama is. Messi is an insignificant blip. As an example, essentially none of India gives a rat's ass about football. They love cricket, and that's what they know.
rumborak
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I asked a few people today who they thought the most famous living person in the world might be. Most guessed Obama (or George Bush), at least half didn't know who Messi was (or had "Oh yeah, I remember the name now" when I told them). Yeah, "That's just a handful of people in the UK" and "a bunch of people on a DT forum" who didn't know who he was. But what percentage of a small sample size that have never heard of someone does it take to rule them out as the most famous person in the world. Especially when no one has any examples of people who have never heard of other suggestions (Obama, The Queen, The Pope) etc. and it's difficult to imagine even hypothetical large groups of people who will have heard of one (Messi) without having heard of the other (Obama).
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How is the word Messi pronounced?
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Let me simplify this. Soccer fans know Pele, Beckham, and Messi.
Casual sports fans Pele and Beckham.
People who don't care about soccer, but followed pop culture probably heard of Beckham either through being married to Posh, his commericals, or the fact that there is a movie called "Bend It Like Beckham"
ergo, Beckham > Messi.
like I said, I'm not arguing he's the most famous, just the most famous soccer player.
I'm pretty sure Christiano Ronaldo is the most famous football player.
But, the more I think about it, the more I think Obama is the most famous person in the world. And I guess the next US president will be too. They are the most powerful men in the world, thus they are the most famous.
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How is the word Messi pronounced?
Messy. Like "tom's room is messy"
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Now BECKHAM I've heard of. And I remember watching Pele play. (even though he was at the tail end of his career)
I know some of my local Seattle Sounders. I remember that red headed guy that played for the US team that got all that press...like...12 years ago or so. The one that looked like the lead singer of the Spin Doctors.
Still never heard of Messy...
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How is the word Messi pronounced?
Messy. Like "tom's room is messy"
Alright, thanks. That was my guess, but I plan on asking a few people if they've heard of him, and I didn't want to be pronouncing it messy if it was supposed to be something else.
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But, the more I think about it, the more I think Obama is the most famous person in the world. And I guess the next US president will be too. They are the most powerful men in the world, thus they are the most famous.
I feel like Obama would be slightly more famous than many US presidents have been in the past though, because of the circumstances and global situation and so on at the time of his election.
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James Cameron
....... Seriously
For shittiest director?
Michael Bay
Joel Schumacher
McG
M. Night Shyalmalan.
None of these people ever made Terminator, The Abyss, Terminator 2 or True Lies.
Fucking Eh! 4 awesome flicks!
I'm sticking with George Lucas for most popular. Star Wars is EVERYWHERE , and for better or worse Star Wars IS George Lucas. For what, 35 years now??
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Gotta be some religious person......Dalai Lama or The Pope or something like that.
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Definitely not the pope. A lot of people will know there is something called a pope, but how many people even in the US know the guy's name? Even I have to sometimes stop for a second to remember he's called Benedict.
rumborak
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Definitely not the pope. A lot of people will know there is something called a pope, but how many people even in the US know the guy's name? Even I have to sometimes stop for a second to remember he's called Benedict.
rumborak
Pope Palpatine. What do I win?
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In terms of soccer players, I'm always surprised how many people know Beckenbauer. I would find myself in an obscure corner of Jordan and some dude would rave about the Kaiser.
rumborak
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Too lazy to read through this to see if it had already been posted, but:
Walt Disney ;)
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Too lazy to read through this to see if it had already been posted, but:
Walt Disney ;)
Sadly he's dead. Not frozen, dead.
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Like Chad said on the first page it's the Dalia Lama.
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Too lazy to read through this to see if it had already been posted, but:
Walt Disney ;)
Sadly he's dead. Not frozen, dead.
If you've seen that episode of Robot Chicken, you'll know he isn't dead.
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In terms of soccer players, I'm always surprised how many people know Beckenbauer. I would find myself in an obscure corner of Jordan and some dude would rave about the Kaiser.
rumborak
Franz Beckenbauer is a legend. I didn't know he was that well known though.
But if we go by their name, then it would most certainly have to be Queen Elizabeth II or Obama. I have no idea what the Dalai Lama's real name is/was. And I mean, for the Pope, I had to think for VERY long until I figured out his name was Ratzinger.
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I had no idea what the Pope's name was. "Benedict" would not have been my first guess. :lol
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Well, it's not his given name. It's his titled name. Pope Benedict XVI.
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I had no idea what the Pope's name was. "Benedict" would not have been my first guess. :lol
Ratzinger I believe.
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You learn something new every day, I guess.
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Pope Palpatine. What do I win?
SEE!!!! Everything comes back to George Lucas...... :rollin
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I have no idea what the Dalai Lama's real name is/was.
Tenzin Gyatso.
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Yeah, I looked that up too afterwards - but if you go by actual name recognition there's no way he's the most famous person alive.
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Yeah, I looked that up too afterwards - but if you go by actual name recognition there's no way he's the most famous person alive.
You're right. And the same thing with the Pope.
I posted it first, but checked afterwards, was I right.
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To anyone naming sports figures, no.
It's going to be someone who most people would know about regardless of whether or not they care about the thing that person is famous for. People who don't care about politics will still probably know who Barack Obama is, seeing as how he's probably the most powerful person on the planet right now, and how far reaching the influence of the US presidency is. Whereas, if someone doesn't give a shit about soccer, which, as hard as it may be for some of you to believe, is the case with many people, they probably won't know who the hell Messi is.
As for impoverished regions without any real access to information; My guess is that no world known figure is going to be particularly well known, whether is be a political figure, specific religious leader, sports star, etc. For the sake of this discussion, those regions don't really factor in.
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It's not hard to believe that people don't care about football, but it's sad that if there's one player they know it's Beckham, who is a complete joke.
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I have no idea what the Dalai Lama's real name is/was.
Tenzin Gyatso.
Oh yeah. I forget that's not common info. I knew that from Avatar. :lol
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Definitely The Queen.
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It's not hard to believe that people don't care about football, but it's sad that if there's one player they know it's Beckham, who is a complete joke.
For people who don't care about the sport, the most famous player is obviously going to be the one who is famous outside of the sport. Doesn't seem all that unreasonable to me.
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Beckham used to be really good.
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Yeah, why is he such a joke?
Jsem seems to be on an anti-British rampage recently. :lol
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I'd like to change my answer to Chuck Norris.
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As for people saying the queen, I doubt that as well since you could shave off quite a few people if you enforced:
A) Actually knowing her name since many folks probably simply know her as "the queen" and not by "Elizabeth the second." By this, I mean that the title is the actual famous part moreso than the individual.
B) Knowing that she is the second since there are probably a fair amount of folks whom, despite knowing her name's "Elizabeth", fail to realize that "Queen Elizabeth" was England's queen from 1558-1603 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Elizabeth_I). A shitload of folks simply refer to her as "Queen Elizabeth" and while some of them obviously know the difference, there are surely some that don't.
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As for people saying the queen, I doubt that as well since you could shave off quite a few people if you enforced:
A) Actually knowing her name since many folks probably simply know her as "the queen" and not by "Elizabeth the second." By this, I mean that the title is the actual famous part moreso than the individual.
B) Knowing that she is the second since there are probably a fair amount of folks whom, despite knowing her name's "Elizabeth", fail to realize that "Queen Elizabeth" was England's queen from 1558-1603 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Elizabeth_I). A shitload of folks simply refer to her as "Queen Elizabeth" and while some of them obviously know the difference, there are surely some that don't.
Yep, I think if knowing the name of the person is factored in, the Queen and especially the Pope wouldn't have as good a chance.
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The Evil White Man
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As for people saying the queen, I doubt that as well since you could shave off quite a few people if you enforced:
A) Actually knowing her name since many folks probably simply know her as "the queen" and not by "Elizabeth the second." By this, I mean that the title is the actual famous part moreso than the individual.
B) Knowing that she is the second since there are probably a fair amount of folks whom, despite knowing her name's "Elizabeth", fail to realize that "Queen Elizabeth" was England's queen from 1558-1603 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Elizabeth_I). A shitload of folks simply refer to her as "Queen Elizabeth" and while some of them obviously know the difference, there are surely some that don't.
I think it's getting a bit pedantic to expect everyone to know that she's the second. I think Queen Elizabeth would more than suffice, or even the Queen of England is enough info for me. I bet the majority of people don't know Lady Gaga's real name at all, or Madonna's full name either. Would they not count unless you knew their real names? If you recognize them, you recognize them.
The way I see it, if this person could walk by you casually in the street (not wearing a crown or pope outfit of course), and get identified correctly (by whatever name you know them by), that counts. I expect the pope would probably fail by that criteria, since many people know the position more than the individual. He'd just blend in as any other old dude. The Queen would do well in some parts of the world (such as here, where she's on our money thanks to our country still being Britian's bitch) and badly in many others, although I'd also expect Obama to do pretty well by that criteria, so I guess I'll agree with that opinion for the moment.
On a side note, from this thread, I expect this soccer player dude could walk the streets of many countries until he passes out without as much as a second glance.
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I'd say Obama or the pope. I haven't heard of most of the sports ones, and I actually watch some sports.
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As for people saying the queen, I doubt that as well since you could shave off quite a few people if you enforced:
A) Actually knowing her name since many folks probably simply know her as "the queen" and not by "Elizabeth the second." By this, I mean that the title is the actual famous part moreso than the individual.
B) Knowing that she is the second since there are probably a fair amount of folks whom, despite knowing her name's "Elizabeth", fail to realize that "Queen Elizabeth" was England's queen from 1558-1603 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Elizabeth_I). A shitload of folks simply refer to her as "Queen Elizabeth" and while some of them obviously know the difference, there are surely some that don't.
I think it's getting a bit pedantic to expect everyone to know that she's the second. I think Queen Elizabeth would more than suffice, or even the Queen of England is enough info for me. I bet the majority of people don't know Lady Gaga's real name at all, or Madonna's full name either. Would they not count unless you knew their real names? If you recognize them, you recognize them.
Not at all since the omission of the "II" makes the name refer to a completely different person who also held the same title. Furthermore, the Gaga/Madonna thing is completely different since they were never publicly referred to on a regular basis as anything other than their stage names. On the other hand I wasn't saying people had to know Elizabeth II's last name or full name either which is the criteria you tried to compare with for Gaga and Madonna.
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Man, is this really how Americans defer to our Queen? We all just call her Betty.
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As for people saying the queen, I doubt that as well since you could shave off quite a few people if you enforced:
A) Actually knowing her name since many folks probably simply know her as "the queen" and not by "Elizabeth the second." By this, I mean that the title is the actual famous part moreso than the individual.
B) Knowing that she is the second since there are probably a fair amount of folks whom, despite knowing her name's "Elizabeth", fail to realize that "Queen Elizabeth" was England's queen from 1558-1603 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Elizabeth_I). A shitload of folks simply refer to her as "Queen Elizabeth" and while some of them obviously know the difference, there are surely some that don't.
I think it's getting a bit pedantic to expect everyone to know that she's the second. I think Queen Elizabeth would more than suffice, or even the Queen of England is enough info for me. I bet the majority of people don't know Lady Gaga's real name at all, or Madonna's full name either. Would they not count unless you knew their real names? If you recognize them, you recognize them.
Not at all since the omission of the "II" makes the name refer to a completely different person who also held the same title. Furthermore, the Gaga/Madonna thing is completely different since they were never publicly referred to on a regular basis as anything other than their stage names. On the other hand I wasn't saying people had to know Elizabeth II's last name or full name either which is the criteria you tried to compare with for Gaga and Madonna.
It's not that different. Most people here only refer to her as The Queen, or Queen Elizabeth, and nobody yet has ever confused her with a dead chick or an oceanliner. It may not be her official title, but Lady Gaga isn't a legal title either. Both have names they are recognized by, and in neither case is there confusion, thanks to their fame.
And different or not, it's ridiculous to argue it doesn't even count based on a number. If someone can see a picture of her and say it's Queen Elizabeth, then that most definitely counts. If you were asking people on the street to identify her and they only said Queen Elizabeth, you wouldn't say "oh, so you don't really know who that is. I'll just put a cross here." It's all very arbitrary.
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I'm pretty sure the whole world has heard of George Bush. Let's be serious here. He's like the most notorious president ever. Plus 911, the Wars, etc.
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It's a tricky question. I wouldn't really call it "loved" in this case, but take Justin Bieber for example. While there are loads of people who hate him and dislikes his music, most people have heard his name and possibly seen pictures of him.
Lady Gaga is another example.
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Timmy T (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nnw1CddWbjw)?
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I'm pretty sure the whole world has heard of George Bush. Let's be serious here. He's like the most notorious president ever. Plus 911, the Wars, etc.
Most notorious President ever??? Guess you weren't around with Johnson and Nixon...
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What about Dewey?
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It's a tricky question. I wouldn't really call it "loved" in this case, but take Justin Bieber for example. While there are loads of people who hate him and dislikes his music, most people have heard his name and possibly seen pictures of him.
Lady Gaga is another example.
My mother in Germany will have no idea who Justin Bieber is.
rumborak
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It's a tricky question. I wouldn't really call it "loved" in this case, but take Justin Bieber for example. While there are loads of people who hate him and dislikes his music, most people have heard his name and possibly seen pictures of him.
Lady Gaga is another example.
My mother in Germany will have no idea who Justin Bieber is.
rumborak
rumbo, out of interest, where in Germany are you from?
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Northwest, Cologne area.
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Northwest, Cologne area.
Well that stinks.
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Northwest, Cologne area.
OK, thanks! :tup
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Northwest, Cologne area.
Well that stinks.
There's a lot of germans in the area.
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Barack Obama. People in the US don't even know Messi that well so he's second.
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Barack Obama. People in the US don't even know Messi that well so he's second.
The responses in this thread alone have pretty much convinced me that he doesn't even belong in the top 10, much less number 2.
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I'd say Messi is a really famous person, but in USA there's perhaps 100 people who actually knows what soccer is, so given how small the sport is, that surely has an affect. On the contrary, I think most people in USA would know who Wayne Gretzky is for example, but over here in Europe less people would know who he is, because Hockey is bigger over there.
I think it's a bit the same with Obama really. In USA everyone is going to know who he is (because he is the president) but as soon as you get some place else there might be a different situation.
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But it isn't. Didn't matter whether I was in Kashmir or Jaisalmer, people knew Barack Obama.
rumborak
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I didn't say that Obama isn't well known. To be fair, since USA is one of the biggest nations of the world, has an opinion about everything (and wants to be involved in everything) it's kinda logical that the president will appear on television and in newspapers everywhere. Still, believe it or not there are still loads of people who neither have television or access to newspapers. :P
Also, what about Nelson Mandela?
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I didn't say that Obama isn't well known. To be fair, since USA is one of the biggest nations of the world, has an opinion about everything (and wants to be involved in everything) it's kinda logical that the president will appear on television and in newspapers everywhere. Still, believe it or not there are still loads of people who neither have television or access to newspapers. :P
Also, what about Nelson Mandela?
The problem is that the demographic who has no access to media has no way of knowing any of the people that are being listed ITT - except for those that they are or have been involved with. Sure, the people in Africa that fall into this group might know Mandela all the same, but people on other continents that don't have this access are very likely to not know the guy.
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You have a point. But the reason I named Mandela is because he's one of the most known people from an African PoV, but he's also someone that is very known here in Europe, and I assume people knows about him in USA as well.
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You have a point. But the reason I named Mandela is because he's one of the most known people from an African PoV, but he's also someone that is very known here in Europe, and I assume people knows about him in USA as well.
Yeah, but when we get to the demographic you described, but in Asia or South America, things will look a little different, won't they?
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Obviously. But for example, Asia and Africa are two of the most populated parts of the world. As much impact as USA and Europe has on several different fields, if we're speaking numbers than someone who is known through Asia and possibly Africa as well would easily take it all, because we're outnumbered. Is that person Obama? Maybe. I haven't been to either Asia or Africa, so I don't know if people in small villages knows who he is, but there is a lot of poverty in both these world-parts, which should be taken into account. :P
Wouldn't someone like George Bush be more logical than Obama? He served as a president for a longer time and did a lot of controversial things, he was also the president when 9/11 occurred (which was most likely reported in every part of the world) and his face was seen pretty much everywhere. I'm not saying Obama isn't famous because I see him everywhere, and I live in a country that's not exactly Pro US or being close to the country at all, but he has only been the president for 3 (?) years now, compared to Bush who was the president for 8 (?) years.
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Bush I'd agree with - more than Mandela at least. As sad as it is, there are people in my school that don't know the guy.
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The thing is, in a remote area without any real media access, you probably won't have any famous figures who are known there, so those areas basically don't factor into this one way or another.
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Too lazy to read through this to see if it had already been posted, but:
Walt Disney ;)
Sadly he's dead. Not frozen, dead.
Plus, I'll bet if you anonymously polled hundreds of people on the street, a somewhat large percentage would have no idea that Walt Disney was the name of an actual person. :lol :lol
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On my trip around the world I met a lot of people who hadn't heard of a lot of things. But even in the remotest point on Earth I was pretty damn sure they knew who Obama is. Messi is an insignificant blip. As an example, essentially none of India gives a rat's ass about football. They love cricket, and that's what they know.
rumborak
Hence my post on page 1 regarding not only their #1 love, but their #1 export. I'm shocked at the latent racism on display on this forum evidenced by the failure to acknowledge that fact. People on this forum need to not be so Anglo-centric.
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what about Nelson Mandela?
"Oh there they go. There they go, every time I start talkin 'bout famous people, a white man got to pull Nelson Mandela out they ass. That's they one, that's they one. Nelson Mandela. Nelson Mandela. Let me tell you something once and for all. Nelson Mandela was good, but compared to Barack Obama, Nelson Mandela ain't shit!"
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When Ronaldinho was considered the best in the world (for Americans,I'm talking about a soccer player) he asked to meet Michael Jordan because he was his idol growing up. When they met, MJ didn't even know who he was talking with. I mean,every European or South American would recognize him.Although Jordan is known to be a %$%^#. So,it doesn't seem strange to me that half the people in this thread don't know who Messi is. He plays a sport that a large part of the world doesn't care about. So,my guess is either the Queen, Obama, Bush, Clinton or an actor/actress.
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what about Nelson Mandela?
"Oh there they go. There they go, every time I start talkin 'bout famous people, a white man got to pull Nelson Mandela out they ass. That's they one, that's they one. Nelson Mandela. Nelson Mandela. Let me tell you something once and for all. Nelson Mandela was good, but compared to Barack Obama, Nelson Mandela ain't shit!"
His mama named him Mandela, I'ma call him Mandela.
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Today I asked a coworker who is just visiting here from India. He agreed with either Bill Gates or the US president. He said that no one knows who the Queen is, and football isn't popular in India enough for Messi to be a household name there.
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Well I'll be damned.
Looks like it's time for another invasion then, besides, I was running low on the tea.
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Today I asked a coworker who is just visiting here from India. He agreed with either Bill Gates or the US president. He said that no one knows who the Queen is, and football isn't popular in India enough for Messi to be a household name there.
How would no one in India know their former queen?
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I don't know. I'm just an American. His mentor from India backed me up. I mentioned the Queen and they immediately dismissed her. Their first answers were Bill Gates, then the US president--but not necessarily by name.
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Did you ask him the question in an open ended way, or did you suggest certain answers? I have a hard time believing they wouldn't have even mentioned at least one of the names in my post if you just asked an open ended question.
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Did you ask him the question in an open ended way, or did you suggest certain answers? I have a hard time believing they wouldn't have even mentioned at least one of the names in my post if you just asked an open ended question.
This is a rough transcript of the conversation:
Me: So who do you think is the most famous person in the entire world?
Coworker: Hmmmm. Maybe Bill Gates.
His Mentor: Yes, Bill Gates is really famous. Who were you thinking about?
Me: Well other people and I were thinking maybe leaders like Obama...
Coworker: I'm not so sure. Not many people get into politics...
His Mentor: But the US President does have an impact world wide.
Me: What about the Queen or the Pope or Dalai Lama?
Coworker: No. Nobody knows who the Queen is.
His Mentor: Yeah.
Me: Then some people where saying Messi...
Coworker: Well he is pretty famous, but football isn't really as popular in India as everywhere else.
His Mentor: Yeah, I'm not too sure about that.
They do live most of their lives in India. This is his first time in the US. First experience with the culture and everything. But also keep in mind that these are IT workers, so they do have access to the internet a lot.
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Meh, you shouldn't have offered answers. I think if you left it strictly open ended they would have admitted that Chuck Norris is the most famous person ever.
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:lol
Well they did say Bill Gates without any prompts.
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probably Barack Obama, along with the Queen and Pope. Actors ilke George Clooney or Leonardo DiCaprio are surely more famous than Messi.
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But also keep in mind that these are IT workers, so they do have access to the internet a lot.
Not to complicate things further, but it kinda makes sense that they'd say Bill Gates if they work in IT, doesn't it?
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Right. It does. That's why I provided that information. It should all be taken into account.
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Not sure who the most famous person is, but the most interesting person is that Dos Equis guy. Duh.
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The only reason I've heard of Messi is that my father is very into his football. I predict in ten years, I will have forgotten the name, as will most people.
Prediction failed
(there are a few months left, at least)
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I think that even if people knew who that Messi guy is, part of the test needs to be how many people would instantly recognize him if he walked through and airport. Also, I think it helps to be multifaceted in terms of your notoriety. A guy who only plays soccer is necessarily meaningless to people who don't watch it.
It wasn't really an option 10 years ago, but at this point the undisputed answer is Donald Trump. As the heels of wrestling figured out, it's just as good to be hated than adored, and even the people who hate him still pay attention to what he does. At this point I'm not sure where on Earth there's a place where people wouldn't know who he was if shown a picture.
edit: Also, it's always amusing when new people show up and resurrect old threads.
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How good to bring fun! ;D
The problem with trump is that many children may not recognize him, who represent almost 25% of the world's population. In that view, politicians may not be a good fit, though Trump transcends all of that. That is why I would lean towards someone more linked to sports, music or TV. It is surprising to see children from unpronounceable countries have a Messi shirt.
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Never seen this thread before today. It's kind of an odd inquiry because most of us are going to have a very skewed view of this.
Donald Trump might be the most famous person in the U.S., and he's certainly instantly recognizable. He might even be the most famous person in the "western world" (North America and Europe. However, I suspect his level of fame is relatively low for the two most populous continents (Asia and Africa). I'd wager to say that Vladimir Putin is probably more famous worldwide that Trump, but a lot of this stuff is very regionalized.
There are probably some soccer guys who are pretty famous worldwide.
I googled "who is the most famous living person," and the first result was a list of 20 people:
1. Dwayne Johnson (LOL)
2. Joe Biden (not more than Trump for sure)
3. Elon Musk
4. Jeff Bezos
5. LeBoner James
6. Kylie Jenner (really...more than Kim?)
7. Robert Downey Jr. (even more LOL than Dwayne Johnson)
8. Cristiano Ronaldo (apparently one of the aforementioned soccer guys)
9. Will Smith
10. Justin Bieber
And so on...a VERY western-centric (primarily U.S.-centric) list.
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Never seen this thread before today. It's kind of an odd inquiry because most of us are going to have a very skewed view of this.
Donald Trump might be the most famous person in the U.S., and he's certainly instantly recognizable. He might even be the most famous person in the "western world" (North America and Europe. However, I suspect his level of fame is relatively low for the two most populous continents (Asia and Africa). I'd wager to say that Vladimir Putin is probably more famous worldwide that Trump, but a lot of this stuff is very regionalized.
There are probably some soccer guys who are pretty famous worldwide.
I googled "who is the most famous living person," and the first result was a list of 20 people:
1. Dwayne Johnson (LOL)
2. Joe Biden (not more than Trump for sure)
3. Elon Musk
4. Jeff Bezos
5. LeBoner James
6. Kylie Jenner (really...more than Kim?)
7. Robert Downey Jr. (even more LOL than Dwayne Johnson)
8. Cristiano Ronaldo (apparently one of the aforementioned soccer guys)
9. Will Smith
10. Justin Bieber
And so on...a VERY western-centric (primarily U.S.-centric) list.
I hit "reply" before I finished reading the entire post, but yeah, your last sentence nails it. I would consider myself WELL informed, and I'm not sure I could tell the Jenners apart, beyond they are hot. That's a VERY "U.S."-centric list.
Right now, Trump is undoubtedly the answer. And to Bart's point, "and even the people who hate him still pay attention to what he does", I would argue, like Howard Stern famously back in the day, those that hate him follow him MORE.
Paul McCartney has to be up there, though, even if just for longevity purposes. I would mention the Queen as well.
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Tom Cruise
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The problem with trump is that many children may not recognize him, who represent almost 25% of the world's population. In that view, politicians may not be a good fit, though Trump transcends all of that. That is why I would lean towards someone more linked to sports, music or TV. It is surprising to see children from unpronounceable countries have a Messi shirt.
Never seen this thread before today. It's kind of an odd inquiry because most of us are going to have a very skewed view of this.
Donald Trump might be the most famous person in the U.S., and he's certainly instantly recognizable. He might even be the most famous person in the "western world" (North America and Europe. However, I suspect his level of fame is relatively low for the two most populous continents (Asia and Africa). I'd wager to say that Vladimir Putin is probably more famous worldwide that Trump, but a lot of this stuff is very regionalized.
An interesting part of the consideration is that his status as a laughingstock helps his recognition. How many times has Trump shown up on South Park or some show aimed at kids as the butt of jokes? Then you take places where he's viewed as an enemy, and that can work its way down to the kiddos, as well. When I was a kid I knew who the Ayatollah was, as well as our old friend Moammar. People who live in countries he's repeatedly called shit holes, likewise.Or, the exact opposite. I'm going to guess that every kid in North Korea saw pictures of Donny and Kim holding hands. Ditto for places like The Philippines and Brazil; nobody needs propaganda more than a despot.
As for the rest of the world, he's got strange popularity in weird places. He's very popular in Nigeria and Kenya, for example. Perhaps owing to the Nigerian fondness for a good con.
The bottom line is that the guy's made a career out of being an obnoxious loudmouth, and he's been huuuuuuugely successful to that end.
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I'd say the Pope or Mr Bean.
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I'd say the Pope or Mr Bean.
The Pope is a good answer; almost 20% of the world population is Catholic. The problem with the Pope is that the POSITION is arguably more popular than the specific man in the office.
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I would consider myself WELL informed, and I'm not sure I could tell the Jenner's apart, beyond they are hot. That's a VERY "U.S."-centric list.
EWWWW! I feel the need to go take another shower (and that even outweighs my desire to dog on you for that misplaced apostrophe)!
I'd say the Pope or Mr Bean.
Who?
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I would consider myself WELL informed, and I'm not sure I could tell the Jenner's apart, beyond they are hot. That's a VERY "U.S."-centric list.
EWWWW! I feel the need to go take another shower (and that even outweighs my desire to dog on you for that misplaced apostrophe)!
Fixed the apostrophe. I'm usually with you on that, so it's a little embarrassing. But my thinking they are attractive is purely from a distance. It's not something I choose; and I'm not one that can't separate physical attractiveness from other variables. They can be clueless, amoral, whatever and still be hot.
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I would consider myself WELL informed, and I'm not sure I could tell the Jenner's apart, beyond they are hot. That's a VERY "U.S."-centric list.
EWWWW! I feel the need to go take another shower (and that even outweighs my desire to dog on you for that misplaced apostrophe)!
Fixed the apostrophe. I'm usually with you on that, so it's a little embarrassing. But my thinking they are attractive is purely from a distance. It's not something I choose; and I'm not one that can't separate physical attractiveness from other variables. They can be clueless, amoral, whatever and still be hot.
I can't say that I have seen any of the Jenner robots any time recently, but I'm pretty sure if you look up skeezy in a dictionary, there's a picture of one of them, and that level of skeeze typically negates any hotness for me (kind of like when I see an otherwise hot girl with a cigarette).
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I would consider myself WELL informed, and I'm not sure I could tell the Jenner's apart, beyond they are hot. That's a VERY "U.S."-centric list.
EWWWW! I feel the need to go take another shower (and that even outweighs my desire to dog on you for that misplaced apostrophe)!
Fixed the apostrophe. I'm usually with you on that, so it's a little embarrassing. But my thinking they are attractive is purely from a distance. It's not something I choose; and I'm not one that can't separate physical attractiveness from other variables. They can be clueless, amoral, whatever and still be hot.
I can't say that I have seen any of the Jenner robots any time recently, but I'm pretty sure if you look up skeezy in a dictionary, there's a picture of one of them, and that level of skeeze typically negates any hotness for me (kind of like when I see an otherwise hot girl with a cigarette).
We're arguing past each other, now. In seeing a picture, I get no sense of "robot", or "skeeze". Maybe after talking to them, sure, but I don't know Margot Robbie from my garbage man, but she fills out a t-shirt like no one's business.
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Hef.
:metal
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Hef.
:metal
Almost a decade later and I stand by that!
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Hef.
:metal
Almost a decade later and I stand by that!
I'm gonna kiss you at Nick's wedding.
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Hef.
:metal
Almost a decade later and I stand by that!
I'm gonna kiss you at Nick's wedding.
Wait till after the ceremony, don't want to steal ALL the spotlight.
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Hef.
:metal
Almost a decade later and I stand by that!
I'm gonna kiss you at Nick's wedding.
Wait till after the ceremony, don't want to steal ALL the spotlight.
So you can gaze into the eyes of the Hefnotoad.
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For many of the celeb/business examples here I can guarantee you that even some kids or elderly where I live don't know who they are. And that is in The Netherlands. I feel that does not apply to the US Presidents.
But that it is indeed western centric. I have no idea how many people in India or China know these people. And if someone is known across all of Asia, that is a very high degree of being famous. Asia is almost 60% of the world population, followed by Africa. For reference, Europe and the US together only make up like 15%.
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For many of the celeb/business examples here I can guarantee you that even some kids or elderly where I live don't know who they are. And that is in The Netherlands. I feel that does not apply to the US Presidents.
But that it is indeed western centric. I have no idea how many people in India or China know these people. And if someone is known across all of Asia, that is a very high degree of being famous. Asia is almost 60% of the world population, followed by Africa. For reference, Europe and the US together only make up like 15%.
That's what i'm thinking too, the most famous person in Asia that's also famous worldwide might be our answer.
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Dalai Lama?
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I'd say the Pope or Mr Bean.
The Pope is a good answer; almost 20% of the world population is Catholic. The problem with the Pope is that the POSITION is arguably more popular than the specific man in the office.
Agreed. The Wife is Catholic but I don't even know who the current Pope is. Not sure how much the rest of the world knows who this mystery mang is.
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The obvious answer in 2022 is Nicolas Cage.
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Dalai Lama?
But isn't "Dalai Lama" like saying "U.S. president"? Or "UN secretary general"? It's not a person; it's a title.
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Dalai Lama?
But isn't "Dalai Lama" like saying "U.S. president"? Or "UN secretary general"? It's not a person; it's a title.
Guess it's more like The Pope since there's not a new one every few years. But yea, no clue on his name, but he's a famous dude. He's been the Dalai Lama for a very long time I think, so I'd say he qualifies.
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Dalai Lama?
But isn't "Dalai Lama" like saying "U.S. president"? Or "UN secretary general"? It's not a person; it's a title.
I don't know if it's a title, but the same guy has been the Dalai Lama for like 100 years, so I imagine that's the one under discussion. And yeah, he's gotta be among the most famous people in the world.
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I have to say. It's really scary to read ten year old posts by me and have no recollection what I was talking about at the time. And it happens more and more the older I get. :lol
That said, I'm not sure why I never mentioned Michael Jordan. He's at least in the running right?
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Dalai Lama?
But isn't "Dalai Lama" like saying "U.S. president"? Or "UN secretary general"? It's not a person; it's a title.
Guess it's more like The Pope since there's not a new one every few years. But yea, no clue on his name, but he's a famous dude. He's been the Dalai Lama for a very long time I think, so I'd say he qualifies.
I was actually a little surprised to learn that the current DL is the only DL any of us have ever known. He became DL in 1940 -- at the age of 4 1/2. Seems tremendously odd to be forced (?) into such a life at such a young age. Anyway...yeah, I agree Pope is a better analogy.
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The Pope fails the airport test. Unless he's wearing the funny hat and surrounded by guys in colorful costumes, nobody would know him from the next old guy walking by. You might as well just say "the president of the United States" without qualifying it with the current holder. Everybody knows there's a president, and that he's an important and influential guy, but it's the position that they know rather than the person.