Who is the most powerful person of all time?

Encyclopedia of Opinion

Question: Who is the most powerful person of all time?
Position‹3 of 6›: Emperor Ashoka is the most powerful person of all time
Argument‹3 of 4›: Ashoka had the ability to influence

Power doesn't just control, it is also the ability to influence. Ashoka could do both.

The argument

True power is not measured only by conquering and gaining followers but also being able to effectively reign over their followers. Effectively spreading information is the best way to ensure that followers remain under their leader’s power. Emperor Ashoka is unlike any leader because he began the most famous way to spread information during his reign. Emperor Ashoka spread information through ordering inscriptions of edicts on pillars and rocks throughout his kingdom. No other emperor had spread a common message this far before. Through this mode of communication to his people, he was able to influence their loyalty. For this reason, Emperor Ashoka is the most powerful person of all time. Although influence can fade, a lasting influence leaves a lasting impact on the world. Emperor Ashoka’s rock edicts still stand to this day for people to read. In addition, Emperor Ashoka’s influence through the rock edicts inspired the spread of Buddhism. The idea of Buddhism was relatively confined to India until Ashoka spread its teachings throughout the world. The ability to leave a lasting and permanent influence on the world is a symbol of power. Emperor Ashoka’s achievement of spreading information and influencing people after his reign through the spread of Buddhism shows his permanent influence. Therefore, Emperor Ashoka is the most powerful person of all time.

Context

Power doesn’t come from the ability to crush your enemies, or the number of followers you have. It comes from your ability to promote your interests. Nothing allows a leader to do this more than soft power or the ability to influence.

Premises

[P1]True power lies not just in conquest but in effectively reigning over followers, and spreading information is the best way to keep them loyal. [P2] Ashoka pioneered mass communication by inscribing edicts on pillars and rocks across his kingdom, further than any emperor before him. [P3] His influence proved lasting: the edicts still stand and spread Buddhism across the world, and lasting influence is the mark of power. [C] Therefore, because Ashoka had an unmatched and enduring ability to influence, he is the most powerful person of all time.

Counter-arguments

If the ability to effectively influence a message is a sign of power, then Muhammad or Jesus could be considered the most powerful people of all time. They were both capable of spreading religious texts all across the world. These religious texts are still devoutly followed by people today. Their abilities to spread their messages through the Quran and Bible created lasting religious followings that influenced generation after generation. Therefore, the ability to influence people by spreading a message does not necessarily make a leader the most powerful person of all time.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P1] Defining power as the effective spread of a message is a stipulation the argument then uses to reach its conclusion, and on that definition religious founders whose texts are still followed worldwide would outrank Ashoka — which is what the counter points out. [Rejecting P2] Rulers inscribed and publicly displayed law and proclamation in stone long before Ashoka, the Code of Hammurabi among them, so the premise asserts rather than shows that no earlier ruler spread a common message as widely. [Rejecting P3] Surviving inscriptions and the later spread of Buddhism record the durability of an influence, which is not the same as power over anyone during a reign, and Buddhism's transmission across Asia was carried by many later rulers, monks and traders.