the five most interesting people

So here is the question. If you could sit down and have dinner with five people from anytime in the history of the world, who would they be? I think this is an extremely difficult question. At this dinner I would want to discuss a variety of issues, and there are many diverse people whose minds I would want to pick. So let's get to my answers. Here they are, in reverse order.

5. Thomas Jefferson

The founding father and author of the declaration or independence is arguably the most influential figure in the founding of our republic. His views of personal responsibility, liberty and autonomy shape many of the ways I think today. Although he was not the most brilliant economic mind (see the embargo of British and French goods prior to the war of 1812) he was still a brilliant statesman and one of the pioneering thinkers regarding the inherent freedom of men.

4. John Locke

Locke's lasting legacy was his notion of the social contract. He was the first documented human to state that the proper role of government was a limited one, and that a legitimate government only had powers that were conferred upon it by the people it governed. It was upon Locke's guiding principles that our republic was founded, and he was the first to question the tyranny of authority that was present in all governments of human kind up until his time.

3. Milton Friedman

It is Friedman's belief in the power of markets to efficiently and fairly distribute wealth that I base almost all of my political beliefs on. He refused to accept that central planning was the path to prosperity and recognized that it is the collective wisdom of all people (consumers through the price mechanism) that determine the best outcome in almost all situations. He revolutionized modern economics and showed how humans rely on incentives, which are created through numerous circumstances including free market prices, to best determine how to allocate scarce resources. To this day, Free To Choose is the manifesto I live by.

2. Albert Einstein

Perhaps the most brilliant mind of all time, Einstein could reason on a level beyond comprehension to almost all other men. He thought of the universe in a way that was unheard of in his time and was widely criticized until empirical evidence proved his theories as correct. Thanks to his theory of relativity we now recognize that the universe is a much different place than we ever imagined and that all natural forces are most likely interconnected. Although there is no general theory of physics yet, Einstein pushed us to accept the unexpected, and revolutionized modern science in the process.

1. Adam Smith

The father of modern economics, no one has done more to improve the general welfare of humanity than Adam Smith. His revolutionary work, The Wealth of Nations, moved humanity beyond the dark ages into an age where free individuals were able to make their own choices to better themselves while at the same time bettering society as a whole. This revolutionary idea that the "invisible hand" will lead free actors to improve the life of both themselves and society as a whole was the foundation of capitalism. Thanks to Smith, human kind has advanced tremendously, and the standard of living had increased at an exponential rate. He was the first to establish a functional theory of prices, equating them to the relative value of the goods and services to both producer and consumer. In my opinion, there is no other individual in history who had more influence on the history of human civilization.