Ask HN: Who are the most inspiring people you know or are aware of?

5 points by desouzt 11 years ago | 4 comments

I am trying to put together a list of really inspiring people in all different types of fields. I recognise there are 1000s and 1000s of inspiring people out there but just wondered who inspires you?

dandelion_lover 11 years ago |

No doubt, for me this is Richard Stallman. He follows his ideas of free software for the whole live, never betrays them and with time, his philosophy [0] looks more and more modern (especially in the post-Snowden times).

[0] https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/

jyu 11 years ago |

Diogenes of Sinope. A philosopher, cynic, and has legendary altercations with Alexander the Great, Plato, Socrates and other famous figures during that time. Unfortunately most of his original works were destroyed, so we only have bits of anecdotes and hearsay.

Of all the people I have read about, he lives the most congruent life and thoughtfully challenges status quo.

dancole 11 years ago |

Adam Savage

He has a lot of interesting conversations on Tested [0], as well as a lot of conference talks that are posted online. The amount of stuff he makes is impressive. He is also very open about his failures and how he has learned from them.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/user/testedcom

desouzt 11 years ago | |

Sounds great! I'll check him out, thanks!