SCoPE-L
Societal Connections of Planetary Exploration List

Creation of this forum was inspired by a panel discussion, “Societal Connections of Planetary Exploration and the Search for Life Elsewhere,” held on Thursday 15 March 2001 at the 32nd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Houston, Texas.

Participants are urged to stay on topic. Topical areas are
1) public reaction to and involvement in planetary science and the search for life elsewhere in the Solar System, including
2) discussion of public funding mechanisms and their political ramifications, and
3) outreach/education efforts related to planetary science and exobiology; and more generally
4) the public’s view of the scientific enterprise.
Regrettably associated topics are
5) the public’s attraction to pseudoscience and
6) intermittent hostility toward science.

SETI is an appropriate topic for this forum only insofar as it provides a model for public involvement in research through distributed computing or other mechanisms.
In general, detailed discussions of scientific findings and theories are not appropriate, unless they somehow concern the relationship between science and society.
Discuss pseudoscience only in the context of its attraction to the public.

This forum is moderated, and participants are required to criticize only ideas, not people.
Criticism of behavior, as distinct from individuals, may be appropriate. My own preference is that discourse be not only polite, but kind; and remember that the members of the public we may criticize may differ greatly from contributors to this list in background and personal experience.