Thread: Climate Change and Crichton

ABOUT MICHAEL CRICHTON



Michael Crichton was a writer and filmmaker, best known as the author of Jurassic Park and the creator of ER. His most recent novel, Pirate Latitudes, published posthumously in November 2009, is a suspenseful adventure story set in the 17th century.

Crichton graduated summa cum laude from Harvard College, received his MD from Harvard Medical School, and was a postdoctoral fellow at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, researching public policy with Jacob Bronowski. He taught courses in anthropology at Cambridge University and writing at MIT. Crichton's 2004 bestseller, State of Fear, acknowledged the world was growing warmer, but challenged extreme anthropogenic warming scenarios. He predicted future warming at 0.8 degrees C. (His conclusions have been widely misstated.)

Crichton's interest in computer modeling went back forty years. His multiple-discriminant analysis of Egyptian crania, carried out on an IBM 7090 computer at Harvard, was published in the Papers of the Peabody Museum in 1966. His technical publications included a study of host factors in pituitary chromophobe adenoma, in Metabolism, and an essay on medical obfuscation in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Crichton's first bestseller, The Andromeda Strain, was published while he was still a medical student. He later worked full time on film and writing. One of the most popular writers in the world, his books have been translated into thirty-six languages, and thirteen have been made into films.

He had a lifelong interest in computers. His feature film Westworld was the first to employ computer-generated special effects back in 1973. Crichton's pioneering use of computer programs for film production earned him a Technical Achievement Academy Award in 1995.

Crichton won an Emmy, a Peabody, and a Writer's Guild of America Award for ER. In 2002, a newly discovered ankylosaur was named for him: Crichtonsaurus bohlini. He is survived by his wife Sherri, his daughter Taylor and his son, John Michael.

CRICHTON, (John) Michael. American. Born in Chicago, Illinois, October 23, 1942. Died in Los Angeles, November 4, 2008. Educated at Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, A.B. (summa cum laude) 1964 (Phi Beta Kappa). Henry Russell Shaw Travelling Fellow, 1964-65. Visiting Lecturer in Anthropology at Cambridge University, England, 1965. Graduated Harvard Medical School, M.D. 1969; post-doctoral fellow at the Salk Institute for Biological Sciences, La Jolla, California 1969-1970. Visiting Writer, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1988.

Awards: Recipient of Mystery Writers of America's Edgar Allan Poe Award, 1968 ("A Case of Need", written under pseudonym Jeffery Hudson); and 1980 ("The Great Train Robbery"). Association of American Medical Writers Award, 1970 ("Five Patients"); Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Technical Achievement Award, 1995 ("for pioneering computerized motion picture budgeting and scheduling"); George Foster Peabody Award (for "ER"); Writer's Guild of America Award, Best Long Form Television Script of 1995 (for "ER") Emmy, Best Dramatic Series, 1996 (for "ER"). Ankylosaur named Crichtonsaurus bohlini, 2002.

Associations: Member of Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Author's Guild, Writers Guild of America, Directors Guild of America, P.E.N. America Center, Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, Phi Beta Kappa. Board of Directors, International Design Conference at Aspen, 1985-91; Board of Trustees, Western Behavioral Sciences Institute, La Jolla, 1986-91. Board of Overseers, Harvard University, 1990-96. Board of Directors, Drug Strategies, 1994-, Author's Guild Council, 1995-, Board of Directors, Gorilla Foundation, 2002-, Board of Trustees, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2006-

References: Contemporary Authors, 1971-; Who's Who in America, 1974-; Current Biography, April 1976; Film Encyclopedia, 1979-; International Motion Picture Almanac, 1996; International Television & Video Almanac, 1996.



Novels
THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN, Knopf, 1969
THE TERMINAL MAN, Knopf, 1972
THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY, Knopf, 1975
EATERS OF THE DEAD, Knopf, 1976
CONGO, Knopf, 1980
SPHERE, Knopf, 1987
JURASSIC PARK, Knopf, 1990
RISING SUN, Knopf, 1992
DISCLOSURE, Knopf, 1994
THE LOST WORLD, Knopf, 1995
AIRFRAME, Knopf, 1996
TIMELINE, Knopf, 1999
PREY, Harper Collins, 2002
STATE OF FEAR, Harper Collins, 2004
NEXT, Harper Collins, 2006
PIRATE LATITUDES, Harper Collins, 2009

Non-Fiction
FIVE PATIENTS: The Hospital Explained, Knopf, 1970
JASPER JOHNS, Abrams, 1977
ELECTRONIC LIFE, Knopf, 1983
TRAVELS, Knopf, 1988
JASPER JOHNS (revised edition), Abrams, 1994

Published Screenplays
WESTWORLD, Bantam Books, 1975
TWISTER (with Anne-Marie Martin), Ballantine Books, 1996

Films
PURSUIT, ABC Movie of the Week, 1972. (Director)
WESTWORLD, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1973. (Writer/Director)
COMA, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1978. (Writer/Director)
THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY, United Artists, 1979. (Writer/Director)
LOOKER, The Ladd Company, 1981. (Writer/Director)
RUNAWAY, Tri-Star Pictures, 1984. (Writer/Director)
PHYSICAL EVIDENCE, Columbia Pictures, 1989. (Director)
JURASSIC PARK, Universal, 1993 (Co-writer)
RISING SUN, Twentieth Century Fox, 1993 (Co-writer)
DISCLOSURE, Warner Brothers, 1994 (Co-producer)
TWISTER, Warner Brothers/Universal, 1996 (Co-writer, Co-producer)
SPHERE, Warner Brothers, 1998 (Co-producer)
13TH WARRIOR, Touchstone, 1999 (Co-producer)

Other Films From Crichton's Books
THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN, Universal, 1971
THE CAREY TREATMENT, MGM, 1972
DEALING: OR THE BERKLEY TO BOST0N FORTY-BRICK LOST BAG BLUES, Warner Bros, 1972
THE TERMINAL MAN, Warner Bros, 1974
CONGO, Paramount, 1995
LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK II, Universal, 1997
TIMELINE, Paramount, 2003

Television
ER, NBC, 1994 Creator, (co-exec. producer)

Computer Games
AMAZON, Tellarium, 1982
TIMELINE, Eidos, 2000
Crichton was my favorite author. I am so very sad that there will be no more books by him. His research into the backgrounds of his stories was amaziing. I would be willing to bet that he was far more on point about global warming than anyone in that group of scientists who were against even having discussions with anyone who had doubts.

ClimateGate Professor Calls G-Warming Skeptic 'A**hole' on Live TV

By Noel Sheppard (Bio | Archive)
December 5, 2009 - 12:05 ET



A professor at the university in the middle of the ClimateGate scandal called global warming skeptic Marc Morano "an a**hole" on live television Friday.

This marvelously came moments after Andrew Watson, a professor at the University of East Anglia, told the BBC host moderating the discussion that the controversy surrounding e-mail messages obtained from his school's computers is "a real setback not because there's anything wrong with the science, but because the character assassination and the temperature of the debate which you can just see from our colleague in America is just obsuring the important issue."

Less than ten seconds after making this sanctimonious, holier than thou statement, Watson said as the interview came to a close, "What an a**hole" (video embedded below the fold):


Isn't it fascinating to see how quickly folks that complain about character assassination jump to using it themselves when they're losing a debate?

I guess such hypocrisy isn't exclusive to liberals on this side of the Pond.

Here's the entire debate for those interested (transcribed highlights available at Climate Depot):



Kudos to the BBC for this segment.

When will ABC, CBS, or NBC cover this story in this fashion?

Stay tuned.


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I would've loved
December 5, 2009 - 12:12 ET by ChristianRebel
To see Michael Crichton be around for this...heaven only knows what brilliant qusi-fictional story he could've wrote using ClimateGate as inspiration. He would've been great for some of these debates too.

"For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." -Ephesians 6:12

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Me too.
December 5, 2009 - 12:20 ET by Forest for the Trees
Crichton's speeches on this and related topics are fascinating, especially now that the Climategate has broken through the information manipulation, falsification, cover-ups, and blockade about the religion & hoax of it all.

Worth going online to read Crichton's stuff for those that have not read his essay's/speeches on his website - which is still functioning, even after his passing.

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Wasn't it Crichton who
December 5, 2009 - 12:24 ET by motherbelt
Wasn't it Crichton who wrote that essay about how we wouldn't be able to destroy the earth's climae, even if we set out to do exactly that?

I remember the late Charlton Heston reading that essay somewhere.

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That was the forward to
December 5, 2009 - 15:54 ET by Reaver
That was the forward to Jurassic Park, when Heston read it he was so impressed he called Rush Limbaugh and asked to read it on the air. As Rush said when he played the clip – I don’t normally let callers read things on the air but when Moses calls, you let him talk.


I wouldn't recommend sex, drugs or insanity for everyone, but they've always worked for me. - Hunter S. Thompson

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"Rainbow Six" by Tom Clancy is a great novel
December 5, 2009 - 12:35 ET by upcountrywater


Here is one of the last sentences in the book:

Clark orders the survivors to remove all of their clothes and walk into
the forest without any of civilization's aids, then leaves them behind,
telling them that if they want to commune with nature so much, they
should go commune.

So what is new about Enron?

Originally Posted by antisocialist

A professor at the university in the middle of the ClimateGate scandal called global warming skeptic Marc Morano "an a**hole" on live television Friday.

Good for him, Marc Marano is an ignorant asshole.

.

"Asshole" sounds kind of unscientific. At least they are sticking with the template.

Originally Posted by Effendi

Good for him, Marc Marano is an ignorant asshole.

.

And you're not?
.
.

Originally Posted by Effendi

Good for him, Marc Marano is an ignorant asshole.

.

He's a rocket scientist compared to you

Originally Posted by Robinette Broadhead

And you're not?
.

Sure I am, see fathead, I knew that sooner or later you would stumble across some truth and accidentally post it. It took long enough.

.

Originally Posted by bripat

He's a rocket scientist compared to you

At first, I thought Crichton was an amature scientist after he wrote Jurrasic Park. Then I found out that he wrote the 'Andromeda Strain' long before BW was pop culture. He gets an A+ for perceptivness..