The Dude’s High 5s: Top 5 Historical Figures I Want to Have a Beer With

I don’t go gaga over celebrities.   There’s no band in existence I want to see before I die.   There are very few people that I put on pedestals. Why is this?   What makes me different?   Well, I’m a sociopath for one, so its easy to dismiss all other beings as supporting players in my movie of life.   The other reason is George Lucas.   He taught me that no one is bullet proof.   He was my first hero, and he failed me.   I’m not bitter, it made me stronger.   The solution was to hero worship people whose accomplishments were complete.   People who could no longer ruin their legacy.   So, since there are no living people that I would want to have a beer with, these are the people of the past that I would love to sit down, throw a few back, and discuss the finer points of life with.

 

5. Leonardo da Vinci (1452 — 1519)

da Vinci might be the most amazing human being that ever walked the planet.   The man was a master painter, sculptor, and strategist.   He understood concepts well beyond his time such as the helicopter, war machines, and medicine.   The reason the term “renaissance man” means a jack of all trades is because of da Vinci.   I would love to discuss the state of the geopolitical theater, the American experiment, and game theory with him.   I’m not big on art, but I’d love to show him comics and get his take on the medium.

 

4. Nicola Tesla (1856 — 1943)

 

Tesla is an interesting person.   Had he been born an American, I’m sure he’d be more famous than Edison.   Slowly he seems to be getting some of the credit he deserves.   I’d love to see Tesla’s take on modern electronics like computers.   Hell, I’d bet he’d even take to twitter.

 

3. Teddy Roosevelt (1858 — 1919)

 

I don’t know if I’d want to talk to Teddy so much as I’d want to listen to him.   I imagine it would be like Big Fish.   Teddy was a bit of a mystery.   He was an accomplished hunter, decorated soldier, Secretary of the Navy, and of course President.   He’s also responsible for setting up our national park system, so I’d like to get his thoughts on conservation and natural resource consumption.

 

2. Jack Johnson (1878 – 1946)

Jack Johnson’s tale is not a happy one.   The man was the greatest boxer of his time … he just happened to be the wrong color.   Everyone knows the story of Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier in baseball.   However 40 years before that, Jack Johnson did the same thing for boxing.   The man was so dominating in his sport, that even the government tried to stop him by arresting him on a trumped up charge.   After he was convicted of violating the Mann Act (Crossing boarders with a woman for immoral purposes), despite the fact that the incident took place before the Mann act was enacted,   he fled with his wife (The woman the government originally claimed he violated).   They lived in exile for 7 years until he returned and served out his sentence.   Then, while imprisoned, Johnson patented the modern wrench.   I would love to pick his brain on the evolution of race relations over the last century.

 

1. Rod Serling (1924 — 1975)

If I could steal anyone’s body of work and pass it off as my own it would be Rod Serling.   The man was one of the most creative minds to ever put pen to paper.   Every person should sit down and watch the original run of the Twilight Zone.   Two things will happen.   One, you will agree with me wholeheartedly that this man was someone special.   And two, nearly every piece of fiction that deals with sci-fi would be dimmed as you would see where the creative spark came from.   If you watch the video above, you’d be hard pressed to tell if he was talking about the 50’s or today.   Truly a man ahead of his time.

 

So, if you could master death and bring any famous person back, who would you choose and why?