[lutusp]

The original title wasn't accurate (something like "help launch a space elevator"). The proposal is to put a balloon at a 2 kilometer altitude. I say this for the sake of accuracy, and to cut through the hype.

The long-term project goal is to create a space elevator on the moon, using a method fraught with practical difficulties (one cannot have a geostationary orbit there, over a particular location on the moon's surface).

Caveat Emptor.

p.s. it seems link submitters can edit their submissions and titles after the fact. This means comments may ultimately refer to nonexistent content.

[doc4t]

What do you think will get more clicks?

The original intriguing and funny title "You can now kickstart a space elevator" or this lame ass boring "Space elevator science"?

Which of the two could get more people potentially interested in science?

You guys are just not about the fun are you?

BTW: Who edited the title?

[lutusp]

> What do you think will get more clicks?

I hate to break this to you, but science is not steered by marketing, by "more clicks". It's steered by evidence. The Kickstarter project isn't about a "space elevator", unless a horse chestnut is actually a chestnut horse.

> Which of the two could get more people potentially interested in science?

Science isn't about persuasion, it's about objective evidence. Being "interested in science" means being interested in what's actually so, rather than being interested in Bigfoot and Ghost Hunters.

> You guys are just not about the fun are you?

Not when people are being asked to invest their money, no. When that's going on, I get dead serious.

> BTW: Who edited the title?

I believe it had to be the originator, he's the only one who has the right/ability to do that.

[doc4t]

"I hate to break this to you, but science is not steered by marketing, by "more clicks". It's steered by evidence"

Of course it is. Evidence you get from research which get funded by sparking peoples interest...which can be helped a long way by marketing. But I'll give you that the title was kind of linkbait-y (and funny)

"Not when people are being asked to invest their money, no. When that's going on, I get dead serious."

I assume people would actually read the project description before giving their money away.

I am the originator...and I didn't change anything

[lutusp]

> Evidence you get from research which get funded by sparking peoples interest...which can be helped a long way by marketing.

Marketing is about persuasion, about emotion, not reason. Science requires a dispassionate pursuit of evidence, without the slightest preference for any given outcome.

> I assume people would actually read the project description before giving their money away.

An idealist. Fair enough. But many people will invest based on what they think the project is about, rather than their actual understanding of it. For example, in a recent survey 51% of respondents believed "cloud computing" had something to do with the weather -- even people who used some aspect of cloud computing in their daily lives.

> I am the originator...and I didn't change anything

Really? I assumed that only the originator could change the title of a submission, and I have a hard time believing that anyone else could change a title. Not that I doubt you, I just see a lot of room for mischief or unfairness.