A Little Less Illumination

"A medical doctor by training, Crichton knew better than to treat scientists and technologists as a priestly class, immune from temptations of fame, profit or power." - WSJ

I don't know what type of man Michael Crichton was but his novels reveal a nimble and perceptive mind particularly in dissecting the relationship between science and society. Crichton died this week succumbing to cancer. His work often addressed the increasing politicization of science and medicine, as well as the growing chasm between the scientific elite and average citizen. He also exploited the growing estrangement between the rapid proliferation of scientific knowledge and means, and the atrophied moral and ethical construct in which it operates. Unfortunately, scientists and dependent organizations feel compelled to exaggerate or even create crises in order to survive. These crises we are led to believe require enormous government funded initiatives which, in turn, grow these organizations ever larger. Are some of these problems important? Of course. Are all of these problems world ending crises? Certainly not. Crichton understood this dynamic and weaved it expertly into his 2004 novel “State of Fear” his entertaining and scathing commentary on modern environmentalism.