Posted by Boje on October 22, 1999 at 11:18:18:
In Reply to: Wow posted by Pat on October 22, 1999 at 06:59:02:
I think you missed the point of my post. I wasn’t joining the debate; I was trying to persuade you of its futility.
You are attempting to argue interpretations of publications that were not intended to be unbiased. Sagan regularly stated in interviews and self-composed articles that his involvement in the popular media had the intent of garnering political support for scientific endeavors that he favored, such as the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, SETI, general university research funding, etc., (even dolphin research, for crying out loud!).
That is common knowledge,(at least for people who keep up with periodical literature) and as such requires no citation, in addition to the fact that I was obviously only interjecting my opinions.
I’m not about to waste time picking through Carl Sagan’s piddling contributions to science, as though he was worthy of the effort, to fruitlessly attempt to convince you that he was biased, when he always maintained that he was. You evidently consider him an icon, so I couldn’t hope to denigrate him in your mind.
Boje