@deanmaxbrooks

1. My favorite historical figure would be a toss-up between the authors Ira Levin and Harlan Ellison. Both writers were prolific, and wrote stories that cemented themselves into the public consciousness. Levin is, of course, famous for Rosemary's Baby, The Boys from Brazil, and The Stepford Wives, a title that became a pop phrase meant to depict a supposedly "perfect wife" who is in reality an obedient slave. Ellison wrote countless TV episodes, penned the meme short story I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream, and one of my favorite novelas, A Boy and His Dog. Both writers influenced my own writing and genre choices. Levin was an evocative minimalist type writer who enjoyed profound success at a young age. Ellison is known mostly for his slew of short stories, and oftentimes pugnacious manner. He worked his way onto James Cameron's (another idol of mine) enemy's list for suing him for creative contributions to The Terminator. Levin had most of his success by his 40s, then sort of faded away, though he left a huge legacy and body of memorable work.

2. I think you absolutely can judge the past with today's lens, though that does not necessarily mean that today's lens is perfectly right and moral. Humans learn, grow, and evolve by bits and pieces, never in huge chunks. It is arrogance and pride that lets us think we have "progressed" to any significant degree in so short a time. Look at how long it took us to get to the Magna Carta, then to the Constitution, to basic human rights, to outlawing slavery, etc. We are adolescents, historically speaking. But we have certainly improved from our pasts, and taken big steps. We know more about disease, about our own psychology. We can look at the past and understand it, and compare it to our own, but should always remember our descendents will do the same to us. In the past smoking was socially encouraged and not considered harmful. Maybe in 50 years others will look at our social media addictions as harmful and destructive. Some people do that now already.