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"Aliens Cause Global Warming"
http://www.crichton-official.com/speeches/speeches_quote04.html ^ | January 17, 2003 | Michael Crichton

Posted on 03/31/2007 8:28:21 PM PDT by ventanax5

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 science-namely 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 a dispassionate habit of thought, and ultimately leading to fresh knowledge and technology that would benefit all mankind. The world might not be a very good place, but science would make it better. And it did.

(Excerpt) Read more at crichton-official.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: aliens; crichton; et; globalwarming; michaelcrichton
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1 posted on 03/31/2007 8:28:21 PM PDT by ventanax5
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To: ventanax5

I really love Crichton and his style of writing.


2 posted on 03/31/2007 8:32:03 PM PDT by ElkGroveDan (When toilet paper is a luxury, you have achieved communism.)
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To: ventanax5
I am going to argue that extraterrestrials.....

Oh, those aliens. I thought MC might blame global warming on excessive refried bean consumption.

3 posted on 03/31/2007 8:32:20 PM PDT by Mr. Mojo
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To: ventanax5

So...does this mean it isn't Bush's fault?


4 posted on 03/31/2007 8:32:55 PM PDT by GBA (God Bless America!)
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To: Grampa Dave; Ernest_at_the_Beach
Chrichton on the GW issue.
5 posted on 03/31/2007 8:38:28 PM PDT by BIGLOOK (Keelhauling is a sensible solution to mutiny.)
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To: Mr. Mojo
I am going to argue that extraterrestrials....."

The grays! Had to be them. I knew it all along!


6 posted on 03/31/2007 8:49:50 PM PDT by MrCFdovnh
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To: ventanax5
"Is this what science has become? I hope not. But it is what it will become, unless there is a concerted effort by leading scientists to aggressively separate science from policy."

Excellent. Thanks for posting this. As a geoscientist, I fear for the future of science itself. Like so many power structures before it; the Roman Empire, the pre-Reformation Catholic Church, the British Indian Raj, the present-day scientific culture ("Big Science") will collapse from within, from its own failure to adhere to the fundamental principles that made science and scientific endevour a world-altering success.

Science is not consensus, grants are not proof, media coverage is not success, speculation is not theory.

For example, if I were literally the only person in the world who accepted the theory of plate tectonics, Wegener's continental drift, the continents would still move. All the media-savvy from PT Barnum to Rosie O'Donnell would not stop them.

7 posted on 03/31/2007 8:50:35 PM PDT by atomic conspiracy (Rousing the blog-rabble since 9-11-01)
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To: atomic conspiracy
the continents would still move.

An yes....a falling tree does make a sound when no one is there to hear it.

8 posted on 03/31/2007 8:54:33 PM PDT by eddie willers
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To: atomic conspiracy
if I were literally the only person in the world who accepted the theory of plate tectonics, Wegener's continental drift, the continents would still move

Or as I once said in anger to a legislative committee: "Just because you have the votes doesn't make it right. You have the votes to repeal the laws of gravity, but that doesn't mean we are all going to float around this room.

9 posted on 03/31/2007 8:58:16 PM PDT by ElkGroveDan (When toilet paper is a luxury, you have achieved communism.)
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To: xcamel

Global Warming Ping!


10 posted on 03/31/2007 8:59:33 PM PDT by BlessedBeGod (Benedict XVI = Terminator IV)
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To: atomic conspiracy
Science is not consensus, grants are not proof, media coverage is not success, speculation is not theory.

that, my FRiend, is an eloquent argument for allowing the taglines at this site to accept a longer message
11 posted on 03/31/2007 9:01:39 PM PDT by verum ago (The Iranian Space Agency: set phasers to jihad!)
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To: ventanax5
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.

ok..I'm listening

12 posted on 03/31/2007 9:02:03 PM PDT by Doogle (USAF.68-73..8th TFW Ubon Thailand..never store a threat you should have eliminated)
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To: ventanax5
It's the next stage in our terraforming and you humans want to screw it up. We've spent trillions of Zorkmids making your planet habitable and now some Goreon wants to suck up all our Carbon.

We are from the Really Big Government and we're here to help you.

13 posted on 03/31/2007 9:02:41 PM PDT by this_ol_patriot (I saw manbearpig and all I got was this lousy tagline.)
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To: Doogle

dern...someday I'll be able to get the photo in the right place


14 posted on 03/31/2007 9:03:06 PM PDT by Doogle (USAF.68-73..8th TFW Ubon Thailand..never store a threat you should have eliminated)
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To: ventanax5
"Aliens Cause Global Warming"

Haitians?

15 posted on 03/31/2007 9:03:15 PM PDT by endthematrix (Both poverty and riches are the offspring of thought.)
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To: GBA
So...does this mean it isn't Bush's fault?

No, it means that Bush is an extra-terrestrial.

16 posted on 03/31/2007 9:10:46 PM PDT by alancarp (How many millions have to break a law before it's inconvenient to enforce?)
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To: Doogle
"dern...someday I'll be able to get the photo in the right place"

Type this after your comment:

< p > without the spaces.

17 posted on 03/31/2007 9:13:25 PM PDT by MrCFdovnh
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To: MrCFdovnh
nah..I think I had to pic info too close to the quote.
it looked good on the preview...*grin*

Doogle

18 posted on 03/31/2007 9:25:18 PM PDT by Doogle (USAF.68-73..8th TFW Ubon Thailand..never store a threat you should have eliminated)
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To: Doogle
I had to pic

ut oh..I'm tired..I had THE pic

Doogle

19 posted on 03/31/2007 9:28:08 PM PDT by Doogle (USAF.68-73..8th TFW Ubon Thailand..never store a threat you should have eliminated)
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To: ventanax5

This all becomes very clear once you read about "The Report from Iron Mountain".


20 posted on 03/31/2007 9:35:57 PM PDT by tang-soo (Prophecy of the Seventy Weeks - Read Daniel Chapter 9)
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