Spyke

Can I pick 2 and have them talk to each other instead? Would love to watch Hawking get Newton up to speed on some stuff.

104
lemmy.world

Are they time traveling to see me, or am I time traveling to see them?

Because if it's the latter, Hawking on June 28, 2009.

97

I am by no means excusing anything. In fact, Feynman, Einstein and Edison have their issues too.

Bohr, was Dutch…

Leonardo was left handed?

Anyway Marie Curie would be at least as interesting to talk to as any of them, just maybe bring personal dosimeter for peace of mind.

7
lemmy.world

"So, did you ever have any plans to build that helicopter thing you drew?"

"Chi sei? Dove sono? Come sono arrivato qui?"

"Sorry, what?"

68
samus12345reply
sh.itjust.works

You could use a phone to translate what people who speak in modern languages are saying, but I don't know how well it would translate to and from 15th century Italian.

9
lemmy.ca

None. I give my spot to someone who wouldn't waste it.

I can't speak on their level, and I'm okay with that. I've worked around some absolutely amazing geniuses in my career and I'm happy to be the worker bees in the arrangement. I'm no slouch, and I've done my own share of really cool stuff, but I wouldn't waste such an opportunity on me.

Give it to the Steve Baumels, the Tomas Bartas and the Jeff Linds of the world, the unsung bright spots in our tech march forward.

I'll save everyone a spot at lunch and try to get in on the group photo.

58
ns1reply
feddit.uk

This was my first thought as well, sadly I'm probably not clever enough to fully appreciate and understand any of these people. If I'm not allowed to transfer my place then at least I can have some fun telling Da Vinci about planes and stuff

15

I spoke with Mr Baumel, socially for instance, on a few occasions.

He carries on two conversations actively, about completely unrelated subjects, and can speak with authority on any of them in turn. And he's listening to another conversation so if economics of late Sumeria or gauges of railways in Europe vs China get boring to him, he can ditch one and talk about artwork of early Iceland as vikings adapted their style with the change in local materials; or something.

It's dizzying to hear. He's just not on our level.

2
kbin.earth

Tesla. I feel there's so much we don't know, let alone understand, about his ideas. Have we overly sane/crazy washed him?

58
cynarreply
lemmy.world

Apparently he didn't trust patents etc. He would come up with fanciful ideas, that sounded vaguely plausible, as cover for what he was actually working on.

At this point picking apart the Good, the bad and the cover is an ...interesting exercise.

25
Maevereply
kbin.earth

Look what Edison did. I don't blame him for not trusting how the business world works.

28

Fully agree with that. Tesla got thoroughly screwed over.

10

i feel like the covers have ended up like star trek tech, made up nonsense but it gave people ideas that turned out to be good

1
midwest.social

The irony is at least three of these people would make you want to do this to them by the end while Edison was able to do what he did because he could hold a conversation

24
Dicskareply
lemmy.world

I'll be the dancer. Just make sure I can hear your conversation.

20
lemmy.ca

Feynman, mainly because he was an amazing professor and knows how to talk to people.

Einstein and Newton disliked people, so they would be terrible conversationslists outside their areas of expertise. I think that was true of Leonardo as well. Edison is also out because he was a dick.

29
midwest.social

I was going to say Feynman for the same reason. Outside his classes it sounds like the guy was a lot of fun to be around.

9

I liked the part from his autobio where he recounts cracking safes open. Pretty fun stuff indeed. Less so the ones where he invents modern plastic and helps with the atom bomb

2
w3dd1ereply
lemmy.zip

Yeah I was just reading a book that mentioned something Feynman said and it’s something I feel is true for me as well.

Don’t remember word for word but it was something like “Any subject is interesting if you look deep enough.”

I feel like Feynman and I could have a riveting conversation about knitting for 3 hours even though neither of us are passionate about it.

Those are the people I want to talk to.

7

Interesting that he supposedly said that, given how much he dunks on philosophers.

2

You could absolutely blow leonardo's mind away with modern knowledge such as "washing hands before performing surgery is good actually"

7
drathreply
lemmy.world

Feynman's way overrated, though. Sure, he was a smart enough guy to land a job on Manhattan project and university prof afterwards, but the only reason people know him are the books written by batshit crazy groupies (he didn't write any) and based on his elderly ramblings, so none of the stories in those are even remotely true.

3

While not exactly on par with Einstein, Newton or Tesla, he did win a Nobel prize and is considered a luminary quantum physicist.

5

Yep, this is the guy who might be able to teach me something. The rest of then would be used to talking to their peers, which I am not.

2

Probably Edison but only to tell him how much of a fuckhead he will be remembered as.

29
lemmy.world

Hawking was probably way more familiar with the works, achievements and maybe even personal anecdotes of everyone in this post than I could ever hope to be. Thus, sitting down with him feels like the best deal.

28

He could give lectures, but the computer massively slowed conversations. He also apparently had a bit of a temper. Some of his colleagues took to wearing steel toe cap shoes because of him (electric wheelchairs are heavy).

6
lunarulreply
lemmy.world

Exactly what I was thinking. Plus he seemed to have a good sense of humor too. But on the other hand, it would take him much longer to respond to questions on the spot (usually he'd prepare answers ahead of time for interviews and such).

3

He had a good sense of humour when it was about how great he was. A bit of a notorious asshole in other regards.

2
lemmy.dbzer0.com

Edison but instead of talking to him, I Rick Roll him for three hours.

27
Almaccareply
aussie.zone

Same, but it'd be 3 hours of punching him in the dick.

3
MTK
lemmy.world

I would need like a decade of prep to have any meaningful discussion with any of them 😅

25

"Hey, I just raised you from the dead to talk to you. Fuck your physics, who's the smart one now, huh??"

5
lemmy.ml

Einstein.

He was a generally great guy and had very progressive social views, so it would be fun to talk to him about the current state of the world.

Also a lot of his theories around relativity and theories of quantum physics have been proven recently. It would be amazing to see his mind be blown when he realises both sides were right and what that means for how a theory of everything needs to look like.

22

To say he was a generally great guy really overlooks how awful he was to women. He was no doubt brilliant, but he had some very serious character flaws. And unfortunately, he had an echo chamber of peers and a rockstar celebrity status that only worked to reinforce his shitty behavior and backwards views. It's not super uncommon for brilliant people to be absolutely nightmares on a personal level. Imagine being an absolutely brilliant scientist that gets married only to be completely forbidden from science and the things you love, and then reduced to being a maid for a madman with tons of insanely particular demands.

10
lemmy.world

Yeah I'd love to discuss just the world and life with him.

Curie would be fun too.

Keep Newton away from me. And wasn't hawking on the epstein island?

6
phxreply
lemmy.ca

As far as ones who actually did things there I'm not sure that Hawking would have even been physically capable at a point where he was famous.

1

Hawking left his wife for his much younger nurse. Then, 20 years later, he left her for another much younger nurse. Proving that not only does nature abhor a vacuum, but that some people are only happy when someone else is doing the sucking.

1

Hawking was such a feminist he didn't want to see women get on their knees.
And he was so smart he figured out kids don't have to!

1

Davinci for sure because of the breadth of genius and imagination seems more approachable to a casual conversation, plus history has less on him.

Other's have so much depth in their fields that I wouldn't be able to converse intelligently on anything they are famous for. Having a chat with Feynman would be my second choice because his talks to laymen audiences are quite good.

A pint or five with either would be fun.

21
lemmy.ca

Presumably if we figured out how to bring back the dead and thoroughly decomposed, we could solve the language barrier.

15
programming.dev

Babel fish, you say?

But actually I intended to indicate something more here... Almost all of these will have spoken English and it's a bit slanted y'know? I'd take Aristotle lol

7
lemmy.ca

Get him drunk and coax him into a fistfight/barbrawl over symantics.

Ok. I see the appeal.

3

I strongly suspect peak Aristotle would fucking wreck me but when he's old and rotten? Yeah I reckon I have a chance

2

Also he's the oldest and not much of his ideas are retained.

2
lemmy.world

Alan Turing, the father of modern computer science. I'd also probably s his d because he's technically a dilf. 🫦

20
slrpnk.net

Seeing your answer made me go "oh damn, yeah, I can't believe I didn't say Turing in my answer (I chose Einstein), because he would definitely be my choice. I must've missed that he was on there. After going back up to check the image, I conclude that you cheated, because Turing wasn't an option :P

I'll allow it though, because it's a good answer

8

Oh, shoot, I forgot to check the image and went straight into horny goblin mode. Whoops. 😅

2
mholivreply
lemmy.world

Why? He was relatively contemporary and lived a pretty normal life relative to most of us compared to the historical figures.

That and he was a mega sexist who made the lives of women in science much worse for literal decades.

https://youtu.be/TwKpj2ISQAc

24

To be frank, if you put Angela on this list my answer would be her a thousand times over. Shes just so damn engaging, love her content.

12

100%. Not only can he explain all this physics to an idiot like me, he's got more stories than anybody there

4

Agreed, not the person I respect the most or believe is going to reveal the most truth. But he’s the best one on the list to keep you engaged and entertained for 3 hours.

2

Feynman 100% as a man of the scientific community, I love having someone draw ridiculous diagrams to teach even crazier things.

1

You'll be the smartest person in the room (graveyard) as their brains have rotted away and you will win any discussion. They'll have nothing to challenge your arguments. I don't think this will have any scientific value though. Except maybe from a psychological perspective, as you're an idiot trying to argue with a grave.

5
Billeghreply
lemmy.world

With how blitzed he always seemed, I don't know that any mere mortal could handle what he was rolling...

But also, me too

3

Maybe Hawkings wheelchair battery died, and you are at the bus stop. What's he going to do? Say no? See, he would never say no.....because of the implication.

4
yyprumreply
lemmy.dbzer0.com

As far as I know, Tesla never had any relationship, that is, with a human. But at some point he got obsessed with pidgeons and the story goes that he fell in love with one. But I don't remember many details anymore, or the veracity of it. So take it with a grain of salt.

5

Leonardo to blow his mind and maybe make a time paradox

Tesla to explain to him that he really needs to take some financial advice because it's not about him, it's about people using his techniques.

Edison to punch in the face repeatedly for an hour

16

Probably Einstein, because he seems like an interesting dude beyond his physics. He liked philosophy, for example, and is one of the examples that I invoke when I argue that university level science education should involve more philosophy — Einstein wasn't an anomaly in this respect, but a good symbol for discussing how the practice of scientists doing philosophy seems to have waned over the 20th century.

He was also pro-socialism, and had sensible takes about how science isn't a universal solution to stuff, but a specialised tool that is good for some problems but not for others.

Related: those who enjoy long video essays may enjoy this one from an awesome ex-astrophysicist: Einstein Was a Socialist; Should We Care? (1h16m)

15
slrpnk.net

I mean, Socialism and Communism are different things. Regardless of one's own personal perspective on the matter, it's certainly plausible that someone could be in favour of socialism, but not communism (I can't speak to Einstein's views on communism specifically, given that much of what I know of his political views in this vein comes from his essay "Why Socialism?". He may well have been a raging commie, but chose Socialism because he was aiming his piece at a particular audience.)

Edit: forgot to close my parentheses

3
Bloomcolereply
lemmy.world

(I can’t speak to Einstein’s views on communism specifically, given that much of what I know of his political views in this vein comes from his essay “Why Socialism?”. He may well have been a raging commie, but chose Socialism because he was aiming his piece at a particular audience.)

He already had to leave one country before, it's probably more him being careful.

The FBI had opened its file on Einstein in 1932, , when he was seeking to immigrate to the United States, with a long report by the Woman Patriot Corporation (WPC), which in its extreme anti-Communism, claimed that Einstein was inadmissible to the country. “Not even Stalin himself,” the WPC charged, “is affiliated with so many anarcho-communist international groups to promote…world revolution and ultimate anarchy, as ALBERT EINSTEIN.”3 The FBI continued to collect everything it could on Einstein’s numerous socialist connections for the remainder of his life.

Couldn't work on the atomic bomb bcs the military considered him a security risk.
Nobody is going to out themselves as communist in those circumstances

2

In order to properly comment, I think I'd need to learn more about the differences between socialism and communism as understood when Einstein wrote his essay. I have a good sense of how we understand and use those terms nowadays, but a lot has changed since then in terms of the development of political theories, but also the wider cultural context.

What is clear though is that the essay was a ballsy move, even if Socialism was regarded as less dangerous than communism

1

Bohr, for sure.
I've read Feynman's biography, which, for the record, I would not recommend to everyone.
But he's witnessed Einstein and all of these early physics luminaries, and by his memorable account, everybody was in awe of Bohr, and Bohr only.
So I'd like to hear what the ruckus was about.

15
lemmy.world

As a biologist, I'm offended that there isn't Darwin, nor Mayr, nor Lesquereux, nor Jay Gould nor Margulis.

So I take Leonardo. I also like to draw and paint. I would like to say Marie, but unfortunately I'm not immune to radiation.

15
sopuli.xyz

Feel like I would just disappoint 3 different people. What a cruel thing to bring someone back from the dead for.

14

That's why I went to have Feynman step in for me and I'll just sit quietly in the corner listening

2
lemmy.world

God, I literally cannot choose. That list is probably my perfect list of scientific figures in history. Aside from Edison, he can burn in hell.

The only ones I might add would be Goodenough and Gauss.

14

Curie looks tired. If I'm gonna embarrass myself with anyone anyway, I'll invite her and we'll have a relaxing cup of herb tea at least.

14
4gramsreply
awful.systems

Excellent choice, would be amazing, a perfect pick. I’d toss Riemann or Ramanujan into the mix if I could pick anyone and ignore the language barrier.

3
Echolynxreply
lemmy.zip

Didn't Ramanujan write to a Cambridge professor? His English would be great. Colonial India—a lot of elites would've had knowledge of English.

1

Lol, I meant Reimann too since he’s German, but mostly because I’m an idiot.

1
phx
lemmy.ca

I'd go for Leonardo. The others - while I understand things at a basic level - I'd likely not be able to understand most of their fields.

Maybe Tesla but I'm not sure if the conversation would end up centered around some of the neat science stuff I could grasp or pigeons with laser-eyes ...

11
Tweetreply
feddit.uk

while I understand things at a basic level

... including Italian, right? Otherwise it could be a brief chat.

4
phxreply

Ok... well we are discussing the fictive ability to speak with somebody who is dead. I'm assuming that whatever necromancy/chronomancy is involved included some sort of translation.

Hell, if it's necromancy then the only thing we might get out of poor Leo is a "cerveeeeeeelli" before he lunges across the table :-)

5

I mean it will be three hours either way, even if your are shouting broken Spanish at him.

1

Agreed, Leonardo had that natural sense of curiosity and wonder that I can imagine being completely infectious.

2

Curie three times. Her work was so groundbreaking that she got name recognition on the same level as the rest of them as a woman in the late 1800s. Based on my experiences with modern women in stem, I'd expect she worked way harder to get where she did than any of the rest of them and as such I'd expect her insight to hold a lot more value. I'd pick Pierre too if he was also on the list

11
lemmy.world

Edit: I misread it. I read it as "you can talk to 3 of these"

Einstein – German and English

Hawking – English

Edison – English

Tesla – Serbocroatic

Curie – Polish

Newton – English

Feynman – English

da Vinci – Italian

Bohr – Danish

I‘d love to see the Tesla, Da Vinci and Einstein - all of them being incredibly smart but no one speaks the Same Language. Heck I think they’ll just switch to Latin to understand each other lol

10
Nikls94reply
lemmy.world

Oh my bad, he spoke 7 languages. Please add Czech, Hungarian, German, Italian, French and English.

God that man was smart

11

Oh, wow, so in case of need, he could act as an interpreter for the others!

2
lemmy.zip

Tesla. From what I have heard, he was eccentric ( paranoid possibly? ) so it'd be fun to see if I could get him to think I'm some sort of government agent looking to stop him from doing what he does.

10

I'd happily chat with Marie Curie for 3 hours while Einstein and Bohr argue with each other in the background.

9
feddit.org

3h in a room with her might put you over your annual allowed radiation limit though.

14

Hmmm tough choice. I doubt I would be able to understand DaVinci or Newton. I would prefer to berate Edison. I wouldn't want Curie to irradiate me. Tesla was awesome but kind of nutty. I didn't know Enough about Bohr. So probably Feyman or Einstein. I read Feyman's book so I think I would have a lot to talk about. But I think the win would go to Einstein for me. I just have to know how he came up with it all by just sort of thinking about it. I would hope he would have the best chance of explaining it in a way I could understand. Plus I speak German, so if all else fails we can just talk about spetzle.

7

I think Tesla. I want to ask him about a bunch of the rumors and conspiracy theories about him. I'm sure almost all of them are bogus, but I'd love to know.

My son picked Einstein. He's curious what his last words were.

7
lemmy.ca

Leonardo.

I have a long held theory based on the history of the Mona Lisa (Being recognized as a genderswapped self portrait he literally entitled "the Happy one" carried around by the artist and gifted to his gay lover after death) that the artist was trans.

I would absolutely love to potentially verify this because the idea that one of the most famous paintings in the world has been a trans gender affirming portrait in plain sight of art historians this whole time with nobody cluing in and writing a proper paper about it - is just kind of the best.

6
feddit.org

Leonardo seems the most interesting of the bunch.

Artist, scientist, inventor, wizard appearance gay icon all in one package.

4

Feynman, he's the one you can drink a beer with.

Though if I spoke German I would show up for Einsteins last 3 hours.

5
sh.itjust.works

Even putting aside the science, Einstein just seems like he was a really good dude. I feel like he'd be a chill person to hang with.

5

Yes exactly. Plus he was literally a socialist. I think I’d enjoy chatting with him the most.

2
Crashumbcreply
lemmy.world

I'd almost be worried about being disappointed. He has been portrayed very favorably. Was he really like that though...

1

Leonardo for sure! I want to know if his 4 hour cycle was true and how did he manage to do it. Did it actually helped with his studies, art and inventions?

Ok we can also talk about Mona if we have time.

5

Tesla would be my answer just to help him sue Musk for using his namesake. I'm petty like that though..

3

That's the full name he had at birth.
He was an illegitimate child, his father, Ser Piero, acknowledged him later so he became Leonardo di ser Piero

"da Vinci" meaning "from Vinci" came later.

So Leonardo is accurate, calling him da Vinci is not

3
lemmy.world

Davinci, Einstein, and Skłodowska-Curie

i want to have a walk with Davinci and see how he sees the world

i want to vibe with Einstein and see how well we click (i think he'd be a good friend)

and i want to chillout with Skłodowka-Curie and chat in Polish about stuff

i like science, but i'm nowhere near a level where i could make a conversation about their passions they'd find interesting, so i'm happy to listen and see their mind work

4

oh dang i misread the prompt. hmmm, well, if i can understand Davinci's Italian then him, if not, then Skłodowska-Curie. though we have many Davinci's journals time is time, things get misplaced, lost, forgotten, i'd love to know if he's written something nobody's ever found. Skłodowska-Curie as amazing as she is has written down all of her work, no mystery there

1
lemmy.zip

As an art and anatomy person, DaVinci of course!! („ಡωಡ„) Could I even formulate a coherent sentence? Who knows! Surely he has somthing we could cut up and poke around in if words fail... Or just to see him work on whatever, Oh man, what a dream.

4
lunarulreply
lemmy.world

Could I even formulate a coherent sentence?

Do you speak Italian? Or maybe Latin at least.

2

I don't, (I speak spanish though, so that could do?) but I was actually just imagining being like... Star struck and nervous? Ha. But I would make it work either way. maybe we could communicate through drawing . Imagine sketching for him like... Idk a mecha suit, or some sci fi stuff... Or drawing a dinosaur or a microbe or something.out of the scope of the science at the time. what would he come up in return?

2

Newton to talk about philosophy Leonardo to talk about art Feynman to tell each other funny jokes about lock picking and messing with people; hate each other at approximately 2:15, not enough time for fist fight, ah well

3
fedia.io

I think Feynman would be interesting based on the videos of him I've seen. It probably also aligns best with where my knowledge is. Einstein is probably too theoretical and too much math I don't know (or have long forgotten in the decades since I learnt it).

I have zero Polish and my French is mostly forgotten so Curie is out, though she would be my second choice of those listed (I don't recall if she spoke English off-hand).

3

Tesla, to check on many mysteries (totally not to get actual death ray).

Or maybe Skłodowska-Curie, to get self radiated.

Or Bphr, for beer.

3

Can you give it away ? If so, can you divide the time ?

2

We can get to talk with any of them... like, it is a time machine to transport us into times when they were 5yo at their times? None said what age these persons would be.

Or maybe it is more like necromancy? yes please!

2

Probably the ones which worked in fields that advanced the most. Although I probably would not be able to explain shit.

1
lemy.lol

from a scientist's point of view i'm not sure, but if i wanted to make a lot of money then definetly edison

1

I would like to have a conversation with Leonardo, Newton and Eisntein, but I would like to be an audience member and have Feynman actually have the conversation with them

1

Probably Leonardo. I'd love to hear him recount how many models he fucked while wearing his signature bandana

1