Peter, There are some good transcripts of speeches given by Crichton here..
http://www.crichton-official.com/speeches/index.html
This is from the opening paragraph of his speech entitled, "Environmentalism as Religion" ..
The greatest challenge facing mankind is the challenge of distinguishing reality from fantasy, truth from propaganda. Perceiving the truth has always been a challenge to mankind, but in the information age (oras I think of it, the disinformation age) it takes on a special urgency and importance. And here, when talking about his youthful expectations of science from the speech, "Aliens Cause Global Warming" I also expected science to banish the evils of human thought---prejudice and superstition, irrational beliefs and false fears. I expected science to be, inCarl Sagan's memorable phrase, "a candle in a demon haunted world." And here, I am not so pleased with the impact of science. Rather than serving as a cleansing force, science has in some instances been seduced by the more ancient lures of politics and publicity. Some of the demons that haunt our world in recent years are invented by scientists. The world has not benefited from permitting these demons to escape free.I haven't read all of them yet... but I'm gonna
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We're going to open "Pandora's Box" here by comparing "environmentalism" with religion.
It hard to deny some similarities. Neither beliefs can be proven, both are based on faith and hope. To argue against either can be dangerous to your health if not your reputation. Crichton makes some good points. Hopefully we can explore this connection in more detail.
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