Famous Creative Thinkers
PHL 458
April 2, 2015

Famous Creative Thinkers

Carl Sagan was known as an American Scientist and was born November 9, 1934 and died December 20, 1996. Carl Sagan was a pioneer in many countries scientific realm and is known throughout the world as the renowned astrophysicist of our known generation. He was also an achieved astronomer, cosmologist, astrobiologist, author, scientist, and writer. Dr. Sagan published more than 600 scientific papers and over 20 books during his lifetime. Dr. Sagan spent most of his professional career as a professor of astrology at Cornell University.
Dr. Sagan grew up as a young boy in Brooklyn, NY in the early 40's. His mother was very religious and his father a Ukrainian immigrant who worked in a garment industry. Carl was an avid reader of science fiction and did not play sports.
Carl Sagan was an avid science researcher, and many of his books and writings clashed with the religious groups. Carl often would talk about life on other planets or solar systems and how could Earth be the center of the Universe if we as a species had never experienced or seen other beings or worlds. The religious sect of society had their negative views of Dr. Sagan and fought to reduce funding of his program on PBS Known as "Cosmos". They eventually won these funding arguments, and the program was discontinued. “Every one of us is, in the cosmic perspective, precious. If a human disagrees with you, let him live. In a hundred billion galaxies, you will not find another ("Good Reads", 2015).
Dr. Sagan wrote mainly about his studies of the planets Venus and Mars. The two planets were the closest planets to Earth and maybe could tell a historical event about why they are now uninhabitable to humans. Venus had gone through a traumatic greenhouse effect and had scorched the entire planet. Which is too hot for humans to live on now? Mars was once considered as a viable solution from Earth if the environment becomes too polluted to sustain life. The once viewed changes on the Mars surface as vegetation growth turned out to be wind storms on the surface and, therefore, uninhabitable for human life outside a protective zone.
I feel that Dr. Sagan was a pioneer in his beliefs and his insight into space and the exploration of space. Dr. Sagan expressed his views in mostly a public forum, and those beliefs are not accepted by most of the religious benefactors. If for instance, were we to believe that God created other beings on other planets, then where would the control of the church be here on Earth? People would stop giving and believing in the Gospel and the Bible. You can see the conflict between science and religion. This was many of the conflicts that Dr. Sagan dealt with on an everyday basis.
Dr. Sagan also conflicted with people who were on the other side of the spectrum and believed overwhelmingly in the alien observations. He disputed that fact that people had seen UFO's and that maybe what they had seen were balloons, lights shining oddly against cloud formations. I believe Dr. Sagan wanted to maintain a sensible realism of the possibility of life outside of Earth and not be labeled with many of the viewed UFO believers. Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino was born March 27, 1963. He is well known as one of the most intriguing directors and producers in modern day Hollywood. Mr. Tarantino has a unique way of characterizing his films and creates excitement to the film observer when his movies are produced.
Mr. Tarantino is known for classic films, such a Reservoir Dogs, True Romance, Pulp Fiction, and Kill Bill. He has many other films that were considered cult classics. His unique style has been considered by critics to be rip-offs of prior great movies and directors. Mr. Tarantino’s replies have always been that every great writing, poem, and novel have been influenced by many great classics prior. Quentin had a unique way of telling stories and writing Mother's Day cards. His mother Connie Zastoupil stated: "He wrote me sad Mother's Day stories. He'd always kill me and tell me how bad he felt about it. It was enough to bring a tear to a mother's eye." (Biography, 2015, Early Life, para. 2).
Quentin Tarantino was a high school drop-out who worked in porn shops and eventually found a job at the video Archives in Manhattan Beach, California. He worked on many of the screenplays for such movies like Natural Born Killers and True Romance. These films went on to be a great success, but had some issues with the director Oliver Stone. Quentin had, and issue with Mr. Stone, who re-wrote parts of the movie and Quentin went on to have his name taken off the film. These were not the only films that Mr. Tarantino had problems with, his film called Jackie Brown had conflicts with director Spike Lee because of the over-use of the ‘N’ word in the film offended Mr. Lee and he objected to its use (Yamito, 2014).
Mr. Tarantino has had many controversial films, screenplays, and acting critiques, but the over-whelming comparison of both Mr. Tarantino and Dr. Sagan is the fact that they both grew up in single parent homes (Biography, 2015). The mothers of both of these men worked to provide for their sons and were not always able to stay home with them and nurture them that many other children have had in their upbringing. These men educated themselves, studied and put themselves into situations that required them to succeed, and they did. I find both of these individuals extraordinary and would hope to have half of the drive and determination that these two individuals have put forth in their careers. It is hard to critique a person after they are successful. Could these men have been more tolerant in their professions? Yes. I would say all of us could be more tolerant of others in our current trade. I would also state that people who are intolerant seem to have higher expectations of their fellow employees and will push them to achieve more. Pushing someone can also upset them and create an undesirable environment at work where nothing positive or productive is performed. These men were opposites in their work environment and had different hurdles to overcome, but overall they both dealt with public opinion and inner strife of their personal beliefs.

References

Quentin Tarantino. (2015). The Biography.com website. Retrieved 06:38, Apr 01, 2015, from http://www.biography.com/people/quentin-tarantino-9502086.
Carl Sagan. (2015). The Biography.com website. Retrieved 07:13, Apr 01, 2015, from http://www.biography.com/people/carl-sagan-9469191.
Yamito, J. (2014). Quentin Tarantino's New Beverly Slammed by Long time Employer - Pulp Fiction. Retrieved from http://deadline.com/2014/10/quentin-tarantino-new-beverly- slammed-employee-julia-marchese-out-of-print-852106/
Good Reads. (2015). Retrieved from https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/10538.Carl_Sagan