Michael Chricton, a very wise man, talks about global warming

In this collection of videos, starting with an interview with Charlie Rose, the late Michael Chrichton discusses what he thinks about climate and science and why he was highly skeptical of the widespread belief in climate catastrophe:

[h/t]

Rescuing climate science

A comment at WUWT points to an interesting article:

... If you're one of those people appalled by the politicization of science by celebrities, congressmen, and the Nobel Committee, I highly recommend you take a look at the work of Professors Kerry Emanuel and Daniel Rothman at the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences at MIT.

Kerry and Dan are neither climate change zealots nor global warming deniers. In fact, they are not even in the business of making climate predictions. In their view the wildly varying climate forecasts spit out by hugely complex black-box computer models have not only become disconnected from sound science but have drawn all the money and talent away from the critical challenge of trying to understand how basic climate mechanisms work. ...

Exactly the motivatations behind Michael Crichton's skepticism.

Michael Crichton dies of cancer

Michael Crichton died of cancer yesterday at age 66. The famous novelist and movie and TV creator/writer/director had a fascination for scientific and medical subjects. This was no doubt closely connected with his formal training in medicine and biology:

He graduated from Harvard Medical School, obtaining an M.D. in 1969, and did post-doctoral fellowship study at the Jonas Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California, from 1969 to 1970.

He will be remembered by me, for one, for his valuable contributions to fighting anti-scientific global warming hysteria.

R.I.P. Michael.

Update: Obituary (and review of 'Next') by Mark Steyn.

Book Review - “State of Fear” by Michael Crichton

"State of Fear" is a thriller that delivers serious lessons on environmental issues, including and especially ‘global warming’. Call it an ‘eco-thriller’. It uses a fast-paced fictional plot to keep your attention while delivering commentary on the science, art and politics of environmentalism. One theme that pervades the book is the harmful consequences of politicizing science.

Though the plot’s a bit flakey and the characters cardboard (like a John Grisham novel) I thought the book worked very well - it keeps your interest as intended. And if you want to skip the fictional part (at the expense of missing some interesting scientific commentary) you can go directly to the back of the book where Crichton summarizes all the serious stuff he wants to impart. As I said before, the back pages are an excellent source of information and ideas and are worth the price of the book by themselves.

If there’s anything I disagree with in Crichton’s ‘messages’ it’s his ideas on relieving world poverty which he thinks is a big cause of environmental distress. He’s vague, because this is a novel and not a social science text book, but it seems his solution involves designing "delivery systems that work". Delivery of what and by whom? On the surface this sounds a bit like the classic socialist delusion that you can solve poverty by redistributing wealth from rich to poor. But this soul destroying exercise only perpetuates the problem. The only permanent solution is for ‘the poor’ to become self sufficient, starting with food supply - in other words to become productive and create wealth for themselves. However, considering the whole book, this is a minor quibble.

The bottom line: excellent book, highly recommended reading.

Debate - “Global warming is not a crisis”

Given all the hype, propaganda and hysteria surrounding ‘global warming’ it is refreshing to see that there is some actual debate taking place.

Yesterday, an Oxford style debate with the motion "Global warming is not a crisis" was held. For the motion: Michael Crichton, Richard Lindzen and Philip Stott. The affirmative side won. Detailed results:

Note the significant post-debate shift to the affirmative.

Expect the debate to be available online in the near future.

Thanks to "A Dog Named Kyoto" for finding this.

Update: Here's the transcript.

Michael Crichton - Genius

Ok, 'genius' may be an exaggeration. I really don’t know Michael Crichton well enough to make such a judgement. But based on what I’ve learned up to now, I’ve come to believe at least the man is a marvel!

I’ve just started reading ‘State of Fear‘, Crichton’s 2004 novel - a thriller involving global warming alarmism, scientific folly, eco-villains and media laziness and stupidity. In other words it’s a thriller based on current events.

I’m barely into it, but what has greatly impressed me so far is the material at the back of the book which summarizes Crichton’s research, motivation and conclusions. It includes:

Author’s Message - Crichton’s conclusions - a marvelous collection of short, sharp insights, beginning with:

* We know very little about every aspect of the environment, from its past history, to its present state, to how to conserve and protect it. In every debate, all sides overstate the extent of existing knowledge and its degree of certainty.

Appendix I - Why Politicized Science is Dangerous. An essay documenting some past examples of scientific ‘error’ and the resulting damage. Parallels with current global warming hysteria are relevant.

Appendix II - Sources of Data for Graphs. He uses real data and factual footnotes throughout the novel.
Bibliography. Crichton’s list of readings covering three years of research runs to twenty pages with most entries including a short synopsis or comment on relevance. This is a treasure trove of sources on the science, psychology and politics of environmentalism. Reading it left me with the feeling that by comparison with Crichton, I’ve been wasting my life.
If you read nothing else in ‘State of Fear’ don’t miss reading the back pages. This means you, Al Gore and David Suzuki!!
Michael Crichton’s own web pages for ‘State of Fear’ include links to some of the above as well as to speeches he’s given to learned audiences around the U.S.A. His reputation is such that he’s even been asked to give testimony before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.
I repeat, the man’s a marvel!