Which tech founder, company or tool will be remembered in 1,000 years?

Question

What will future generations know about our time?- How likely are they to know the work of Bill Gates, Steve Jobs or Elon Musk? Who will be most important to them?- Will they be most impressed by the fact that we put a helicopter on Mars or the invention of smartphones? Which will be most important in their time?- Will the tech companies of our generation be remembered and viewed negatively in the same light as monopolies like Standard Oil or colonizing entities like the Dutch East Company? Will the companies of our time be remembered at all?

noud · Accepted Answer

Can you name 10 founders of companies from more than 1,000 years ago? I cannot. Additionally, there are only a handful of companies left that were founded more than 1,000 years ago [1]. Therefore, it's unlikely that any founder or company will be remembered in 1,000 years.
If I have to make a wild guess what will be remembered in 1,000 years, I would guess that SI units with its derived units will still be in place. [2] These (derived) units are named after some inventors, James Watt, Gustav Hertz, Isaac Newton, Nikola Tesla, Lord Kelvin. Maybe some of them will be remembered in 1,000 years. But keep in mind, 1,000 years is a very very long time. A lot can be forgotten in that time span.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oldest_companies
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_System_of_Units

tus666 · Answer

None, we remember thinkers, not engineers.They will remember Einstein and Newton and Aristotle, just like we do.

beardyw · Answer

I think "remember" takes on various shades. Is name recognition the same as understanding what they did?
Most people will recognise the name Julius Caesar but few could say much more (at school I had to read his Invasion of Britain in latin so I know a little - utterly failed the subject)
Ask someone about Aristotle and 99% will have no clue. A Greek maybe.
I would say that outside of people associated with a religion, only names will sometimes live on.

f0e4c2f7 · Answer

Very good chance the Capital of Mars or some significant cities / outposts on Mars are named after Elon.I think there is actually quite a good chance he is remembered in 1000 years. At least in a vauge recognize the name from textbooks kind of way.

version_five · Answer

This belongs on reddit, not HN

Which tech founder, company or tool will be remembered in 1,000 years?

None, we remember thinkers, not engineers.
They will remember Einstein and Newton and Aristotle, just like we do.

Very good chance the Capital of Mars or some significant cities / outposts on Mars are named after Elon.
I think there is actually quite a good chance he is remembered in 1000 years. At least in a vauge recognize the name from textbooks kind of way.

This belongs on reddit, not HN