Remarks to the Commonwealth Club Michael Crichton (Theme: Environmentalism is really Urban Atheism)

Michael Crichton ^ | September 15, 2003 | Michael Crichton

[edwin hubble]

Absolutely fascinating.

Strong science (procedural) viewpoint...(He's a doctor)

But, Crichton as a thinker, as one who has dealt with Hollywood,... I am amazed that he has such candor and courage.

I read his first novel Andromeda Strain in the early 70s and was amazed at how bright this guy is.

[okie01]

dirt, you'll want to read this.

[liberallarry]

Good. Very good.

I've always thought that Medieval religious thinkers were some of the best thinkers around. Too bad they are so often overshadowed by burnings, heretics, forced conversions, wars, torture, etc. when people think of religion.

[longshadow]

outstanding post placemarker

[balrog666]

Excellent read - thanks for the ping.

[ladyinred]

All I can say is WOW!
Great find!

[rustbucket]

Excellent article. I agree with most everything he says.

I suspect that a lot of people who support the environmental movement do so because they accept what they've been fed over the years by schools and the media. They simply haven't the inclination or personal strength to question what they are told. It is a religion.

[cornelis]

to question what they are told. It is a religion

Questioning is not the essence of religion or any secularity. I suppose you are happy with the thoughtless error Crighton makes to confuse bad thinking with good thinking. Vulgus vult decepi.

[Zeppo]

Thanks for posting the article - I'll have to bookmark it for future use. He has other gems on his site, for example this one...

[MainFrame65]

You know, I BELIEVE the good science about secondhand smoke not being a health hazard. But among my birth family of brother, sisters, parents, aunts, uncles, and cousins of all degree and remove, I am the ONLY ONE who never smoked, because I find the odor so uncomfortable - and so disgusting - that it chokes me.

My parents used to smoke in the car when I was small, and it literally made me so sick that I would regularly have to tell them to stop and let me throw up - and early memory that is still vivid for me at age 64. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate the nonsmoking reserved area in restaurants today, and I fully believe that it is appropriate to legislate such freedom for the large majority of us that do not smoke.

But I oppose a complete ban, because I have seen how uncomfortable my family members are when they are denied their tobacco, and I have no desire to impose that discomfort on anyone needlessly.

[thegreatbeast]

Chrichton is more right than wrong on the "dime's worth of difference" view of the two major parties. Noam Chomsky(!) believes that each party is used to enact the other's agenda. And that could be true- certainly W has done things that we'd never have let Clinton get away with. (Just papering everything with tax monies after 911 comes to mind while doing nothing substantial about securing our borders.) Remember, Taxation is a form of Slavery. If we weren't taxed out the eyeballs more parents could stay home watching and teaching the kids which would pay off in so many other ways. Rush used to play a reading of Chrichton by Charlton Heston from Jurassic Park(SP?). It was a beautiful piece about the irrepressibility of Life & Nature and the true insignificance of Man when arrayed against such forces. In that book, Chrichton also gives a neat introduction to Chaos Theory.

[x]

This is a fine article that provides much to think about. It would be wrong to use Crichton as a stick to bang on the heads of all environmentalists though. When mankind was at the mercy of the environment the forces of nature were seen as the enemy, first to be propitiated by offerings to God or the gods, then to be soothed by conforming to natural law, and finally to be conquered by understanding the scientific laws of nature.

Today, mankind -- or its technology -- is in the saddle, and nature inevitably comes to look like something weak, fragile, and in need of protection. Ignorant environmentalists sentimentalize nature. Searching for a new object of veneration they go too far in idolizing the earth and denigrating humanity, but there is some chivalry in our modern attitude towards nature that one wouldn't want to lose.

There was much to be said for the passion to conquer nature in its time. We have benefited from the desire to fight back against famine, disease, scarcity, and natural disasters. And we still need some of that fighting spirit, but I wouldn't be too quick to condemn moderns for moving away from that passion.

[djwright]

I came to the same conclusion a short time ago. That the only way to understand environmentalists (including vegans etc) is to see it as a religion. A true vegan won't eat honey (it oppresses bees don't you know). If you can expain that rationally I will give you all the nectar you can eat (although I would have to oppress flowers to get it).

[aruanan]

Meanwhile, all during this time New Guinea highlanders in the 20th century continued to eat the brains of their enemies until they were finally made to understand that they risked kuru, a fatal neurological disease, when they did so.

No, they were eating the brains of their dead relatives as part of death rites to show closeness and respect. They still contracted kuru, though.

Otherwise, great article. Reminds me of Dixie Lee Ray's book Environmental Overkill: Whatever Happened to Common Sense?

[nicksaunt]

Excellent read. Thanks for posting.

Did Michael Crichton actually read this speech in front of the Commonwealth Club in SAN FRANCISCO?

I would have loved to have seen the audience reaction. Crichton has probably seen his last invitation in front of that group. I am sure by the end of the speech there were about five people left in the room.

[PoorMuttly]

We fulfill his request...with thoughtfulness.

Good replies.

[cornelis]

moderns Wouldn't that be post-modern when they turn from their passion? Post-modern, as in the tradition of Nietzsche who blamed the religiosity of the encyclopedists?

[segis]

Great article bump.

[rustbucket]

Questioning is not the essence of religion

I agree with that statement.

[MrNatural]

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