Ask HN: Who is the most positive impactful person you know? • Hacker News Board

This will be a controversial answer for some reasons I think are misplaced. In my opinion Elon Musk seems like he has a potent toxic side to his personality, and he doesn't seem to have a very good grasp of certain things. He also legitimately seems delusional at times.

However in terms of bringing awareness, optimism, and a willingness to actively work on engineering solutions to long-term existential threats to humanity I think his impact on our culture is often understated.

Re: Ask HN: Who is the most positive impactful person you know?

#46

Post by baxtr » Wed, Jan 16, 2019, 6:05 PM UTC

Would love to hear your definition "impact". On a personal level? On a business level? On a global level even? I think it is really difficult to define what impact even means. Sometimes impact is realized even long after someone has died, think F. Scott Fitzgerald (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Gatsby#Legacy_and_mo...)

Re: Ask HN: Who is the most positive impactful person you know?

#47

Post by thro_a_way » Wed, Jan 16, 2019, 6:05 PM UTC

Repiro wrote: post #20

Jordan Peterson

did you clean your room?

Re: Ask HN: Who is the most positive impactful person you know?

#48

Post by fghtr » Wed, Jan 16, 2019, 6:08 PM UTC

Richard Stallman: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stallman

Re: Ask HN: Who is the most positive impactful person you know?

#49

Post by irchans » Wed, Jan 16, 2019, 6:08 PM UTC

Mikkel Vestergaard Frandsen - His company saved the lives of about 10 million people (my wild ass guess) with approximately one million water purifiers and something like 1 billion mosquito nets distributed in Africa. (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vestergaard_Frandsen)

Re: Ask HN: Who is the most positive impactful person you know?

#50

Post by irchans » Wed, Jan 16, 2019, 6:12 PM UTC

Sir Isaac Newton