Michael Crichton died

I am stunned to hear Michael Crichton has died. He was my favorite author.

It's sad to lose him so relatively young. He was 66.

Frank Warner

More here.

And more.

From Bloomberg:

In recent years, the Harvard University and Harvard Medical School graduate was known as a high-profile doubter about the threat posed by global warming. His 2004 book “State of Fear” conjured a group of eco-terrorists -- he called their group NERF, for National Environmental Resource Fund -- trying to sow panic over the topic.

He supplemented his tale with a 34-page author’s message and annotated technical bibliography. The book stemmed from an article he had read that mentioned how little is known about global warming, he said in a 2004 interview.

“Out of curiosity, I went and looked at temperature records,” he said. “I thought, well, I must not understand something because this doesn't look as persuasive as I would like it to be. And the more I read and the more depth I went into, the worse it got.”

In a 2005 speech at the National Press Club in Washington, Crichton said, “In my view, our approach to global warming exemplifies everything that is wrong with our approach to the environment. We are basing our decisions on speculation, not evidence.”

* * *

Here’s the central point in the 2003 Crichton speech that commenter Mark referred to:

“Today, one of the most powerful religions in the Western World is environmentalism. Environmentalism seems to be the religion of choice for urban atheists. Why do I say it’s a religion? Well, just look at the beliefs. If you look carefully, you see that environmentalism is in fact a perfect 21st century remapping of traditional Judeo-Christian beliefs and myths.

“There’s an initial Eden, a paradise, a state of grace and unity with nature, there’s a fall from grace into a state of pollution as a result of eating from the tree of knowledge, and as a result of our actions there is a judgment day coming for us all. We are all energy sinners, doomed to die, unless we seek salvation, which is now called sustainability. Sustainability is salvation in the church of the environment. Just as organic food is its communion, that pesticide-free wafer that the right people with the right beliefs, imbibe.”

Comments

[Nicholas]

d'oh

[Mark]

This is one of the few speeches that changed my life
http://www.forces.org/articles/files/crichton.htm