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Why Politicized Science is Dangerous - Michael Crichton
MichaelCrichton.com ^ | Michael Crichton

Posted on 10/15/2007 1:15:45 PM PDT by Bon mots

Imagine that there is a new scientific theory that warns of an impending crisis, and points to a way out.

This theory quickly draws support from leading scientists, politicians and celebrities around the world. Research is funded by distinguished philanthropies, and carried out at prestigious universities. The crisis is reported frequently in the media. The science is taught in college and high school classrooms.

-excerpted-

Click HERE for the rest of the essay.

(Excerpt) Read more at michaelcrichton.net ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: agw; crichton; globalwarming; globalwarmingscare; gore; junkscience; michaelcrichton; politicalcorrectness; pseudoscience
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1 posted on 10/15/2007 1:15:49 PM PDT by Bon mots
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To: Bon mots

bflr


2 posted on 10/15/2007 1:23:58 PM PDT by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
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To: Bon mots
From what I’ve read about him, Michael Crichton is a pretty liberal guy. It’s refreshing to know that on some things, he seems to think for himself. That must really make him unpopular with the Hollywood crowd.
3 posted on 10/15/2007 1:24:35 PM PDT by appleharvey
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To: Bon mots

Wow! Good read. Highly recommended. Bump


4 posted on 10/15/2007 1:25:50 PM PDT by saganite
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To: Bon mots

I wonder what Crichton thinks about Gore winning the Peace Prize.


5 posted on 10/15/2007 1:28:46 PM PDT by Fitzcarraldo
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To: Bon mots
The best human beings were not breeding as rapidly as the inferior ones --- the foreigners, immigrants, Jews, degenerates, the unfit, and the "feeble minded."

Think of posts on FR, Buchannan, Brimelow, and others. Now, is Eugenics really discredited and dead, or just temporarily out of fashion. It has never been scientifically valid but it is and idea that will never die as long as tribalism, nativeism and isolationism are are part of the political and social universe.

Note: There are good reasons to oppose groups of people based on political, religious and cultural beliefs and practices. That is not what Crichton or I are describing as eugenics.

6 posted on 10/15/2007 1:29:21 PM PDT by JimSEA
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To: appleharvey
He is liberal, but his eyes were really opened he said when he wrote "State of Fear"

He started out writing a book about global warming, but the more he researched it the more he found out what a crock of *&^% it was, and he decided to write about the people who wanted to further their own agenda. Good book if you want your eyes opened.

7 posted on 10/15/2007 1:30:40 PM PDT by Abathar (Proudly posting without reading the article carefully since 2004)
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To: appleharvey

I doubt we’re going to see “State of Fear” made into a movie any time soon.


8 posted on 10/15/2007 1:30:40 PM PDT by SlowBoat407 (Free commerce is the only just way to redistribute wealth.)
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To: Bon mots
Because dinosaurs aren't Republicans or Democrats ...

and they're certainly not vegetarian environmentalists.

H

9 posted on 10/15/2007 1:32:30 PM PDT by SnakeDoctor (How 'Bout Them Cowboys!!!)
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To: SlowBoat407
I doubt we’re going to see “State of Fear” made into a movie any time soon.

I'd love to see Crichton finance and direct it himself; it's not like he doesn't have the money or experience to do it.

10 posted on 10/15/2007 1:36:09 PM PDT by xjcsa (Defenseless enemies are fun.)
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To: JimSEA

His claim is that eugenics was never tested using rigorous definitions.

So instead of swinging over to the other side and denouncing it as unscientific, with about as much evidence, why not test it rigorously to see if less intelligent people tend to have less intelligent offspring?

If they are, and they reproduce at a higher rate than the more intelligent, then the worst fears of the eugenicists of 1900 are likely to come true eventually.

I agree with most of what Mike says, but a lot of his criticism of eugenics is guilt by association. “The Nazis were eugenicists, so the very concept of eugenics must be evil.”


11 posted on 10/15/2007 1:39:28 PM PDT by Sherman Logan
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To: Bon mots

Bon, is there a Crichton ping list, and if not, you should start one. The dude is a certified genius.


12 posted on 10/15/2007 1:40:22 PM PDT by StAnDeliver
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To: Hemorrhage

But they do like lawyers!!!


13 posted on 10/15/2007 1:40:59 PM PDT by nuke rocketeer
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To: Bon mots

Bump for later...


14 posted on 10/15/2007 1:42:11 PM PDT by SaveTheChief (Chief Illiniwek (1926-2007))
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To: Bon mots

15 posted on 10/15/2007 1:44:13 PM PDT by BenLurkin
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To: Bon mots

Excellent. I learned a lot about important subjects of the past and present.


16 posted on 10/15/2007 1:44:25 PM PDT by ChessExpert (Reagan dismantled the Russian empire of 21 conquered nations)
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To: appleharvey
Nothing liberal about this book...

His portrayal of union workers as dangerous thugs pretty much guaranties it will never be made into a major motion picture.

17 posted on 10/15/2007 1:46:08 PM PDT by BenLurkin
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To: Bon mots
My favorite quote:

But as Alston Chase put it, "when the search for truth is confused with political advocacy, the pursuit of knowledge is reduced to the quest for power."

There is great elegance in simplicity and this sentence seems to meet that criterion.

18 posted on 10/15/2007 1:50:17 PM PDT by capt. norm (Be thankful we're not getting all the government we're paying for.)
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To: Bon mots

I remember when I was a kid, my parents got a pamphlet in the mail with all sorts of eugenic clap-trap. The upshot was that, as trained scientists and PhDs, it was their duty to humanity to produce many children in order to dilute the hoards of idiots being produced by the uneducated classes.

Since I was their fifth child in three and a half years, I thought they were doing pretty well in this regard, but they reacted to the pamphlet in a very hostile way. They, apparently, had a better understanding and memory of the eugenic horrors of the early 20th Century than we have today.


19 posted on 10/15/2007 1:50:47 PM PDT by gridlock (C'mon people now / Smile on your Brother / Everybody get together / Try to love one anoth-kaBOOM!)
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To: nuke rocketeer

H

20 posted on 10/15/2007 1:54:18 PM PDT by SnakeDoctor (How 'Bout Them Cowboys!!!)
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