(2003-12-18) Crichton Contra Environmentalism

Michael Crichton against Environmentalism. I have been asked to talk about what I consider the most important challenge facing mankind, and I have a fundamental answer. 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 (or as I think of it, the disinformation age) it takes on a special urgency and importance... As an example of this challenge, I want to talk today about environmentalism... I think our past record of environmental action is discouraging, to put it mildly, because even our best intended efforts often go awry. But I think we do not recognize our past failures, and face them squarely. And I think I know why. I studied anthropology in college, and one of the things I learned was that certain human Social Structure-s (Social System) always reappear. They can't be eliminated from society. One of those structures is Religion... Paul Ehrlich: 60 million Americans will die of starvation in the 1980s... With so many past failures, you might think that environmental predictions would become more cautious. But not if it's a religion... Banning DDT is one of the most disgraceful episodes in the twentieth century history of America... I can tell you that second hand smoke is not a health hazard to anyone and never was, and the EPA has always known it. I can tell you that the evidence for Global Warming is far weaker than its proponents would ever admit. I can tell you the percentage the US land area that is taken by Urbanization, including cities and roads, is 5%. I can tell you that the Sahara desert is shrinking, and the total ice of Antarctica is increasing... Religions think they know it all, but the unhappy truth of the environment is that we are dealing with incredibly complex, evolving systems (Complex System), and we usually are not certain how best to proceed. Those who are certain are demonstrating their personality type, or their belief system, not the state of their knowledge.... At this moment, the EPA is hopelessly politicized. In the wake of Carol Browner, it is probably better to shut it down and start over. What we need is a new organization much closer to the FDA... Because in the end, science (Scientific Method) offers us the only way out of politics. And if we allow science to become politicized, then we are lost.