Which celebrity should we bring back to life?

Summary

The website content discusses the hypothetical scenario of choosing a historical figure to bring back to life, considering the potential impact on modern society.

Abstract

The author reflects on a YouTube video that poses the question of which historical figure should be resurrected if such power existed. The video sets forth three rules for this hypothetical situation: the person cannot be a family member, they would return at age 30 and live until at least 70, and they would retain all their memories. The author evaluates the merits of reviving individuals from various categories, including religious leaders, politicians, scientists, artists, and philosophers. While expressing skepticism about the benefits of bringing back religious figures or politicians due to potential cultural clashes and limited relevance, the author sees greater potential in scientists, artists, and philosophers. Scientists like Newton or Einstein could contribute to advancements in science, though there may be a significant learning curve. Artists who died young, such as Chopin, could complete their unfinished work and explore new artistic mediums. Philosophers like Confucius or Voltaire might offer valuable insights into modern society's moral and ethical challenges. Ultimately, the author suggests that a council should decide on the most beneficial individual to resurrect, with Leonardo da Vinci being a strong candidate due to his combined expertise in both science and art.

Opinions

Bringing back religious figures like Jesus, Muhammad, or Buddha could deepen our understanding of religions but might lead to complications due to their potential inability to adapt to the modern world or to stop religious conflicts.
Politicians from the past, such as Napoleon or Caesar, may not be effective leaders in today's context due to the drastic changes in the world and the complexity of modern governance.
Scientists from earlier centuries, despite their potential contributions, might struggle with the vast amount of knowledge they would need to catch up on, suggesting a focus on more recent scientists with a broad understanding of science.
Reviving artists who passed away prematurely could lead to new artistic expressions and innovations, as they would have more time to practice and study their craft.
Philosophers could provide a fresh perspective on contemporary societal issues, potentially helping humanity to progress morally and ethically.
The author leans towards choosing Leonardo da Vinci as the ideal candidate for resurrection, valuing his versatile genius in both the arts and sciences, and his history of visionary ideas.

Which celebrity should we bring back to life?

I have just seen a video on YouTube that deals with this question. If we had the power to bring a person back to life, who should we choose?

In this video, the author proposes three rules to describe this power:

We can’t bring back a person of our family.

The resuscitated person would come back at 30 years old, and live at least until the age of 70.

This person will come back with all his memories.

From these rules, the author explains us that several categories of people could be interesting. Artists, scientists, politicians, religious men and philosophers are maybe the most interesting.

Firstly, I will deal with the religious category. For me, bring back Jesus, Mahomet or Buddha could be interesting to a better understanding of our religions, but I fear to discover that our prophets were nothing more than manipulators. Moreover, i think it will be too complicated for them to acclimate to our world, and after their story told, to what extend they can help the mankind? I don’t think these prophets will be able to stop all the religious wars because nowadays, religions are more a pretext to begin a war that serves geopolitical purposes.

Then, the case of politicians. I don’t really think that politicians will be good people to bring back because of the changes of the world for the centuries that passed. If we bring back Napoleon, George Washington or Caesar, may they be as good as in their epoch at leading a nation? I don’t think so, firstly, as progressive they were at their time, they will be way more conservative than the average politician of our time. Furthermore, the new economic and military world organization will be a real barrier for the application of their knowledge.

Now I will dig into the domains I think it could be really interesting.

Firstly, the sciences. I think bringing back some amazing scientists as Newton, Fermi or Einstein may help the advancement of science, but these affirmations can be controversial. Indeed, if Newton come back to our time, how much of the discoveries he would have to learn and understand? That’s a lot of knowledge to get back at the level of the living world class scientists. In addition, nowadays, science is so complicated that there are specialists in very specific fields. So maybe we have to focus on the scientists of the 20th century, to avoid a huge lack of knowledge. However, I think we should choose them for their global understanding and intuition of science, as maybe Ramanujan or Tesla, than for their discoveries.

On the other hand, artists will not help us to improve our technologies, but let come back to life artists who died early, to let them finish their work, as Chopin who died at the age of 42. Art is one of the specificities of mankind, and I think bringing back geniuses of this field, to see what they could do with the news means and the evolution of the art. Would Beethoven go in FL studio to compose? Will they explore new branches of musicality? Will Monnet make digital drawing or even photography? I am fascinated with art so I am certainly biased, but I love to think that we could discover new expressions, imagine an artist with like 150 years of practice and studying. If there is a paradise or something after the death, I want this information be brought and represented by an artist.

To finish, I think the most prolific field is the philosophy. To have a new regard on our societies by a man that lived centuries ago, could help the humanity to improve morally. The first names that come to my mind are Confucius, Platon and Voltaire, but I think philosophers such as Marx or Machiavel could be very interesting in their way to analyse our new societies and maybe review their ideas to make it match with the new world order.

As a conclusion, I strongly believe that a power like this could bring our society to an evolution thanks to the vision of a famous man of old times. But to choose the one, maybe create a council with artists, scientists, religious and politicians in order to select the one that can help the whole mankind in a certain way. If I had this choice to do, I think my chosen one will be Leonardo da Vinci, for his capacities to be a man of science, but also a man of art. The fact that he had visionary ideas bring him as the best choice in my eyes.

What makes a thing noble is its eternity. – Leonardo da Vinci

Ex Materiae – si vous pouviez ramener une personne à la vie, qui choisiriez-vous ?