The Longest Life - A specculation

I've just awakened from a dream in which I briefly saw and spoke with my father-in-law who passed away about 40 years ago.  He was delivering some groceries to our kitchen.  It must have been summer with the door open so he could walk right into the house and announce himself with the family whistle.  I believe my mother-in-law was along, but I woke up before she made her appearance.  It was a very pleasant dream.

It won't be too much longer until all who knew Rodge will be gone and he will not even appear in a dream.  Puccini on the other hand is different.  About a year ago I went to La Boehme.  When it was over I thought with some amazement that Mr. Puccini, now dead for some long time, was still thrilling audiences, myself included.  Of course he had a lot of help.  Those who invented the musical form, and the instruments.  Those who made themselves able to perform what Puccini created.  Those who care to listen to his music.When there are none of these then I suppose Mr P will at last be effectively gone as well.  But it's a nice run he's having.

Such thoughts of course lead to the question of who will live the longest in the sense of being remembered and relevant.  I wonder if Thomas Edison is as well known in the rest of the world as he is in the U.S.  The electric light is a pretty big deal I think.  But do young people today, even in the U.S., know of him.  I'll have to ask a few.  There are the political inventors and creators.  T. Jefferson and friends come to mind along with Hobbs and Locke, etc.  Their work seems like it will impact people for a long time to come.  But I guess it is the religious guys who take the cake and among those is there any older than Abraham?  More than 4,00 years and people still find solace and hope and rapture and hate and reasons to kill one another as a result of his work.  I guess that's the record.