Why do we [dis]like Carl Sagan?

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Carl Sagan made me laugh. Every time he said "stuhr stuff" or "billyuns and billyuns" I had a good laugh. Also I shared his favorable impression of the Dutch and the were in the days of Huygens.

I found his simpering over the Library of Alexandria quite comical. He admired the Hellenes and the Ancient Greeks quite a bit. Unfortunately he overlooked their bad habits --- like slavery .

ruveyn

Each culture has its "bad habits" and its good ones. Our own included.

Indeed. Nothing human s perfect.

ruveyn

First I've ever seen Sagan and Chomsky in the same sentence. I find them to be very different people in very different fields, and not a fan of the latter since his anti-zionism veers into anti-semitism at times.

He also has the ability to travel to different continents in split seconds and to magically appear on top of a mountain whilst looking like a member of Oasis.

I for one enjoyed watching his TV series many years ago "Cosmos" I bought the book too. He was inspirational and a good communicator and populariser of science. I liked him a lot.

Brian Cox is a lot of fun and he is not full of himself, as was Carl Sagan.

Here is funny Brian Cox spoof which cannot be distinguished from the real Brian Cox.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhn8j7S4uKU

ruveyn

Last edited by ruveyn on 23 Jun 2011, 11:49 am, edited 1 time in total.

So, you are making an uninformed opinion about someone you don't know of nor read anything he wrote? Ok.

That was just his personality, what else could he be? He was seriously inspired by the vastness of the universe and his enthusiasm was infectious to many.

We still have slavery, we just outsource it!

NO - Read my lips, Vexillifer.

I just said I am NOT making an opinion about him.

I said - THINK, it is not that hard - I do not like him, I find it hard to listen to him.

The available statements on his work suggest he was probably pretty good. Fine. I'm not qualified to judge, but those who are seem to think he is okay.

But his onscreen presence was agony to me. Okay?

There are people I quite like who are - frankly - incompetent.

There are very great scholars and business people and philanthropists who are unbearable.

Two separate categories. Have you got that?

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Now a few practical illustrations:

Feynman - I am not qualified to judge his work, but I really like his personality and style of expression

Welmers [http://www.linguistics.ucla.edu/general/obits/welmers.htm if you never heard of him] - I am qualified to judge his work, which is good] AND I like his personality and style

Sagan - I am not qualified to judge his work, but though I believe him sincere I find his personality and style hard to take.

Chomsky - I am qualified to judge his work, which is very problematic. Though I have recently been persuaded that he is sincere I find his personality and style offensive.

I hope that is clear enough.

Anyone who doesn't like Carl Sagan isn't human.

I mean, how can someone watch this without tearing up at least a little? This guy was an inspirational god, regardless of what political boundaries he leaned towards.


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oY59wZdCDo0[/youtube]

Arrrrggggg! Bullsh*t!

Humans are Primates version 2.0. We are the Smartest Baddest Apes in the Zoo.

ruveyn

Now,now, ruveyn, humans vary. Don't judge everybody by your own instincts. You seem rather singular.

Well, thank you kindly. If you havde any guess as to what species I am, I would be glad to hear it. The people who SAID they were my parents are human, and I look mighty like various members of the family, but maybe I am on the wrong planet.

I have no idea what his politics might be, and frankly that is of no relevance to what I think of him or how I react to him Word is he was a serious and respectable scientist, for which I will gladly respect him. I always figured he was sincere, not a hypocrite or other type swine.

But - I am a theist, but he is not my god.

He never came close to tearing me up - just made me wonder how you could be like that..

I would never call Charles de Foucauld a god - and he would not have liked it - but I probably think of him much as you think of Sagan. But I do not require that you like him.

I remember that fine episode. Aparently you did not pay very close attention to it.
He praised the Greeks for their learning but he inserted the damning critique that "the books in the alexandria library were full of commentaries on the cosmos but not comentaries on the justice of slavery-and thats part of why the civilization fell"...something to that effect. In that very episode Sagan DID what you are saying he didnt do.