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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Thomas A Watson who wrote (100170)	2/13/2005 12:29:05 PM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793656

It is being broadcast again today on CSPAN2 Book TV at 3:30. Thanks. I will watch it. Crichton's turnaround from science knocker to science defender is startling. I think he must have realized he had "made his pile" from using the "mad scientist" meme in his novels and had a "road to Damascus" conversion. He is now a well know populizer of science who can clean the clocks of the environmental religiousoso. That makes him a very effective thorn in the side of of the Econuts.

To: Thomas A Watson who wrote (100170)	2/13/2005 4:05:46 PM
From: Lane3	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 793656

Thanks for the heads-up on the Crichton presentation. Crichton made a couple of points that I particularly appreciated since they supported hobby horses of mine, mentioned here before. One was the the public's inability to be rational about risk. He used the term "cognitive illusion" regarding the demand of people and their willingness to overpay for 100 percent safety as opposed to, say 90 percent safety. I've mentioned this often in connection with terrorism risk. The other one is the element of the policy process where you're supposed to decide whether to prevent or adapt. I've argued here for the adaptation approach on global warming. Most people who are attentive to the issue fall into two groups--those who are frantic to prevent it and those who deny it.

To: Thomas A Watson who wrote (100170)	2/13/2005 9:38:41 PM
From: Volsi Mimir	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793656

Michael Crichton writes fiction. There are serious (SERIOUS!!) blogs at MIT that are disputing this book, a fiction book. I find that more than humorous, I find that its ironic to dispute fiction. I think he is laughing all the way to the bank and to both sides. I think I have his best work when he was Michael Douglas: Dealing (or, The Boston to Berkeley Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues) you too can engage at: crichton-official.com some very funny posts like from Canada Bill. of course I do believe alot of what he writes is true-- politics flow in environmental veins, bet they are kneeling and praying with a tree limb (ok flower) in one hand and the almighty buck in the other.