The Starburst Foundation

Steve: Where are you getting your support now?

Paul: All of our support so far has been in the form of small contributions from people both in the U.S. and overseas who have responded to solicitations. We've also put on two fund raising lectures. To expand our resource base we have now begun to approach a number of charitable foundations across the country.

Steve: Who do you see benefiting from this work? And to what extent?

Paul: Everyone would benefit from our projects. Not just people in this country, but people all over the world. For example, Galactic superwaves are something that effects the whole planet.

Steve: So geographically it's the whole planet. What about the immediate future of the Starburst Foundation? What are your most urgent priorities?

Paul: The most urgent priority is to get publicity regarding the superwave phenomenon. To get more people aware about it.

Steve: And that project needs about $50,000.

Paul: Yes. And, there is another project down the line which is concerned with setting up a 24 hour watch of the Galactic Center region. In other words, we would like to set up an early warning system so that, in the event that signs of superwave activity are detected, the proper organizations around the world would be notified so that they could take proper precautions. In this way, the impact of such an event could be drastically reduced.

Steve: Is that something that is likely to be funded by government if you can make them aware of the superwave phenomenon?

Paul: Definitely.

Steve: So, summing it all up, what would you like to say about the Starburst Foundation and does it deserve support from people who "make a difference?"

Paul: To support Starburst would be to support an organization that is focusing attention on an important phenomenon of nature, the understanding of which may be essential to the long-term survival of the human race. In the long-range, people would be supporting an organization that is dedicated to helping the world change toward the better. Change is going on in the world, but it needs to happen at a faster pace because the problems are being encountered in increasing numbers every day. If we are to survive, we must change our past ways of doing things and find new ways of coping with these problems. Starburst's purpose is to grease the wheels of change.

But we also saw that Starburst had an even more general long-range purpose. Namely, to support solid, leading-edge research that challenges the conventional scientific paradigm. The reason is that new ideas often require an unusual amount of effort to win the support of the scientific establishment.

Steve: Now these are some of the resistances on the part of the scientific community to being open to new theories, new ideas.

Paul: Right, the scientific community tends toward the conservative side. And in one sense that's good, because if it responded to every new idea that came along, which had not have been very well thought out and critically examined, science would be in a state of confusion, jumping from one concept to another. So there is that tendency to resist change. But in many areas the scientific community maintains a tendency to be overly resistant to change, and unfortunately this encourages the perpetuation of dogmatisms, much as was the case during the Middle Ages. There are insufficient financial mechanisms in place at present to assist people with new, promising ideas to develop their ideas so that they can eventually surmount these barriers and make a positive contribution to society.