Guest: Dr. Adam Dodd; Topics: Strategic ignorance, science, social restrictions, peer pressure, ridicule, disinformation, science as PR, UFOs & science, scientific curiosity and more. Please direct all comments and questions regarding specific Space Show programs & guest(s) to the Space Show blog which is part of archived program on our website, www.thespaceshow.com. Comments and questions should be relevant to the specific Space Show program. Written Transcripts of Space Show programs are a violation of our copyright and are not permitted without prior written consent, even if for your own use. We do not permit the commercial use of Space Show programs or any part thereof, nor do we permit editing, YouTube clips, or clips placed on other private channels & websites. Space Show programs can be quoted, but the quote must be cited or referenced using the proper citation format. Contact The Space Show for further information. In addition, please remember that your Amazon purchases can help support The Space Show/OGLF. See www.onegiantleapfoundation.org/amazon.htm.

Welcome to our one segment 1 hour 24 minute program (we intended the discussion to make use of the 60 minute format) with Dr. Dodd discussing his Astropolitics reviewed and published paper, "Strategic Ignorance and the Search for

Extraterrestrial Intelligence: Critiquing the Discursive Segregation of UFOs from Scientific Inquiry. The paper can be downloaded using the link on our blog and from Dr. Dodd's webpage at The University of Queensland in Australia. The article is in Astropolitics, Volume 16, Number 1, January-April 2018. We started our discussion with my asking Dr. Dodd about his interest in UFOs and why he wanted to write the article. Early in our discussion our guest made the clarification that his paper was focused on the strategic ignorance and problems with science which he discussed with us while the UFO issue was secondary in his research and work plus this Space Show program.

For most of the early part of our program we talked about the significant amount of disconnect with popular interest and professional disinterest in UFOs as an example across many disciplines. Part of his focus was that strategic ignorance is socially constructed, not natural. It is often deliberate not just inevitable and our guest talked about being able to do something about. We took several phone calls in the early part of the program Gabriel from Australia followed by several email questions addressing disinformation techniques, similarities with the climate change discussion, plus listeners commenting on UFO positions by Sagan, Hawking and Neil de Grasse Tyson. Adam had much to say about each of these personalities and their public comments, plus the application of his strategic ignorance hypothesis to their statements and behaviors on the subject and with science.

John from Ft. Worth called to talk about stereotypes, folklore, popular culture and more. John and Adam talked about some of the past studies such as the USAF, the Condon Study, Keane's work & more. He also mentioned some of the older well-known credible researchers such as Duvall, Condon and specific Air Force studies. John and Adam addressed the recent aerial phenomena citied over the ocean by Navy pilots and the Washington Post (WAPO) reporting on the subject which Adam said was excellent. Don't miss his comments on this subject and the WAPO reporting. Both our caller and guest addressed the intellectual taboo on the topic along with the tools used by scientists and others to continue avoiding an intellectual discussion on the topic, i.e. the strategic ignorance referred to by our guest. Adam then mentioned pseudo-science and talked about how it was used to do science performance, not real science. Next, Adam was asked to share with us the telltale signs that we were being exposed to performance science or strategic ignorance rather than real science. He listed several characteristics including invoking common sense, ridicule, the use of logical fallacies, and the fallacy of centrality. Our guest spent some time explaining these issues, including subsets such as the need to appeal to authority and believing that the person is the center all information so the info would find its way to him/her were it there negating the need to do research and work for it. In addition, he noted the fact that many scientists invoke the idea that information moves freely throughout society and the community but our guest pointed out why this was not so. Please let us know what you think on this topic. Don't miss this part of our discussion which started around 55 minutes to an hour into the discussion. Note the characteristics he talked about and see how many times they are used in various discussions we have with guests and callers on The Space Show and that you have in your life. I bet you will have an eye opener of an experience as I have had since reading the paper and talking with our guest for and during this interview.

Other topics we discussed before the program ended including student reaction and interest to his ideas and the challenges he faced in getting his article published, even with Astropolitics. Beverly in Seattle wanted to know if he had ever seen a UFO and if he had seen one, who would he report it to and would he talk freely about it. Don't miss what Adam said in reply to Beverly. You might be surprised by his response. A listener squeaked in an email before the program ended referencing UFO stories about Sen. Goldwater and President Carter. The listener wanted to know if there was significance behind these events and stories or not. Again, don't miss what Adam had to say on these matters. In concluding the program, Adam told us about his next paper and project re UFOs and the Cold War.

Please post your comments/questions on TSS blog for this show. You can reach Dr. Adam Dodd through me on his Queensland University website.