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Aliens Cause Global Warming - Michael Crichton (Great Read)
California Institute of Technology ^ | 01 17 08 | Michael Crichton

Posted on 12/05/2008 1:54:23 PM PST by Notoriously Conservative

I saw this was posted once already (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2128203/posts), but that was a month ago, so I thought it was worth reposting:

A lecture by Michael Crichton

California Institute of Technology Pasadena, CA January 17, 2003

My topic today sounds humorous but unfortunately I am serious. I am going to argue that extraterrestrials lie behind global warming. Or to speak more precisely, I will argue that a belief in extraterrestrials has paved the way, in a progression of steps, to a belief in global warming. Charting this progression of belief will be my task today.

Let me say at once that I have no desire to discourage anyone from believing in either extraterrestrials or global warming. That would be quite impossible to do. Rather, I want to discuss the history of several widely-publicized beliefs and to point to what I consider an emerging crisis in the whole enterprise of sciencenamely the increasingly uneasy relationship between hard science and public policy.

I have a special interest in this because of my own upbringing. I was born in the midst of World War II, and passed my formative years at the height of the Cold War. In school drills, I dutifully crawled under my desk in preparation for a nuclear attack.

It was a time of widespread fear and uncertainty, but even as a child I believed that science represented the best and greatest hope for mankind. Even to a child, the contrast was clear between the world of politics-a world of hate and danger, of irrational beliefs and fears, of mass manipulation and disgraceful blots on human history. In contrast, science held different values-international in scope, forging friendships and working relationships across national boundaries and political systems, encouraging...

(Excerpt) Read more at ees2.geo.rpi.edu ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: globalwarming; scam
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Best quote from the lecture: "Let's think back to people in 1900 in, say, New York. If they worried about people in 2000, what would they worry about? Probably: Where would people get enough horses? And what would they do about all the horsesh**? Horse pollution was bad in 1900, think how much worse it would be a century later, with so many more people riding horses?"
1 posted on 12/05/2008 1:54:23 PM PST by Notoriously Conservative
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To: Notoriously Conservative

RIP Michael, I wonder if you weren’t offed by the loonies on the left.


2 posted on 12/05/2008 1:59:53 PM PST by Vaquero ( "an armed society is a polite society" Robert A. Heinlein)
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To: Notoriously Conservative
I saw this was posted once already (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2128203/posts), but that was a month ago, so I thought it was worth reposting:

Did you run that by the posting police?

3 posted on 12/05/2008 2:00:44 PM PST by neodad (USS Vincennes (CG 49) "Freedom's Fortress")
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To: Notoriously Conservative
If you read the book "Devil In The White City" you'll find that during the 1893 Worlds Fair in Chicago just such a survey was done.

And the biggest concern was "What will we do with all the horsecrap?"

Fortunately we in Chicago have found somewhere to dump it.

Washington DC.

4 posted on 12/05/2008 2:02:01 PM PST by Lurker ("America is at that awkward stage. " Claire Wolfe, call your office.)
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To: Notoriously Conservative

You’ve got the publish date wrong, at the top, next to the source link. You might want to have that corrected, as you’ve indicated it’s 2008 (when it’s actually 2003).

I know you’ve indicated elsewhere, but this is where people will look for the date of the article being referenced...


5 posted on 12/05/2008 2:05:22 PM PST by Star Traveler
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To: Notoriously Conservative

Crichton’s logic and reason are so refreshing. He sure exposes the unthinking religious-like zealots of the Left on this issue.

I am completely irritated when Republicans buy in to the global warming Marxists crap. Ronald Reagan was a conservationist, but he reasonably and rightly refused to hurt the economy over the environment.

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/we-demand-true-conservative-leadership.html


6 posted on 12/05/2008 2:06:10 PM PST by ensignbay ((We Demand True Conservative Leadership))
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To: Notoriously Conservative

Caltech bump!


7 posted on 12/05/2008 2:10:25 PM PST by onedoug
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To: Vaquero

Who’s gonna fill those shoes?
RIP, Michael.


8 posted on 12/05/2008 2:10:39 PM PST by griswold3
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To: Star Traveler

Oops, you are right. I even looked it up so I could indicate it in the correct place, but I didn’t. Must have been a momentary lapse.


9 posted on 12/05/2008 2:12:28 PM PST by Notoriously Conservative
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To: Notoriously Conservative

Interesting article.

I find it curious that, historically, most of the “bad science” supports the aims and goals of the globalist socialist agenda.


10 posted on 12/05/2008 2:16:06 PM PST by PetroniusMaximus
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To: Notoriously Conservative

Ping


11 posted on 12/05/2008 2:16:15 PM PST by Positive (Nothing is sadder than to see a beautiful theory murdered by a gang of brutal facts.)
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To: Notoriously Conservative

Ha ha! My econ professor shared this with us in class the other day. The topic we were discussing was economic and climate modeling.


12 posted on 12/05/2008 2:16:15 PM PST by 31R1O ("Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life."- Immanuel Kant)
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To: Lurker

and Springfield, Illinois


13 posted on 12/05/2008 2:23:16 PM PST by reg45
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To: Notoriously Conservative

Bookmark


14 posted on 12/05/2008 2:28:51 PM PST by Don Carlos (You can touch a nun once or twice, but don't get in the habit.)
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To: Notoriously Conservative

bump. Crichton, RIP.


15 posted on 12/05/2008 2:33:05 PM PST by Mamzelle (Boycott Peggy Swoonin')
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To: Notoriously Conservative

I read this about a month ago and found it a lovely read. I so enjoyed Mr. Crichton’s work. I will miss it.

With regard to another freeper’s remark...all the horsecrap is being peddled as “Science” supporting globull warming, methinks.


16 posted on 12/05/2008 2:33:19 PM PST by delphirogatio (I am the indication, not the confirmation.)
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To: Notoriously Conservative
For reference, Frank Beckman of WJR in Detroit has compiled a number
of links, including one of Crichton's, into a Global Warming Library
17 posted on 12/05/2008 2:37:13 PM PST by kanawa
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Bookmark


18 posted on 12/05/2008 2:38:35 PM PST by AggieMom x 3
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To: Notoriously Conservative

Almost all of Dr. Crichton’s speeches are worth reading closely. They can be found here:

http://www.michaelcrichton.com/speeches.html

Like George Orwell, Michael Crichton combined a penetrating mind with a disgust for sophisticated mendacity. He understood the truth, and took the time to enlighten the rest of us.


19 posted on 12/05/2008 2:46:20 PM PST by devere (Envy is the deadliest of the seven deadly sins.)
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To: Notoriously Conservative
That is a fantastic read and this quote is one for the ages:

"Whenever you hear the consensus of scientists agrees on something or other, reach for your wallet, because you're being had.”

20 posted on 12/05/2008 2:51:28 PM PST by ReeseBN38416
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