Editing Michael Crichton (section)

== Speeches ==
{{anchor|Speeches by Michael Crichton}}

Crichton was a popular public speaker. He delivered a number of notable speeches in his lifetime, particularly on the topic of [[global warming]].

; Intelligence Squared debate: On March 14, 2007, [[Intelligence Squared]] held a debate in New York City for which the motion was ''Global Warming Is Not a Crisis'', moderated by [[Brian Lehrer]]. Crichton was for the motion, along with [[Richard Lindzen]] and [[Philip Stott]], versus [[Gavin Schmidt]], [[Richard Somerville]], and Brenda Ekwurze, who were against the motion. Before the debate, the audience had voted largely against the motion (57% to 30%, with 13% undecided).<ref name="IntelligenceSquared">{{cite web |url=https://www.intelligencesquaredus.org/debate/global-warming-not-crisis/ |title=Global Warming Is Not a Crisis |date=March 14, 2007 |publisher=Intelligence Squared |access-date=August 8, 2014 |archive-date=August 11, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140811221421/http://intelligencesquaredus.org/debates/past-debates/item/559-global-warming-is-not-a-crisis |url-status=live}}</ref> At the end of the debate, there was a greater shift in the audience vote for the motion (46% to 42%, with 12% undecided), resulting in Crichton's group winning the debate.<ref name="IntelligenceSquared" /> Although Crichton inspired numerous blog responses and his contribution to the debate was considered one of his best rhetorical performances, reception of his message was mixed.<ref name="IntelligenceSquared" /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2007/03/adventures-on-the-east-side/ |title=RealClimate: Adventures on the East Side |author=Gavin Schmidt |date=March 15, 2007 |publisher=RealClimate |access-date=October 31, 2012 |archive-date=October 16, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121016231914/http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2007/03/adventures-on-the-east-side/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
; Mediasaurus: The Decline of Conventional Media: In a speech delivered at the [[National Press Club (USA)|National Press Club]] in Washington, D.C., on April 7, 1993, Crichton predicted the decline of mainstream media.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.wired.com/wired/archive/1.04/mediasaurus_pr.html |title=Mediasaurus |author=Michael Crichton |date=April 1993 |magazine=Wired |access-date=March 10, 2017 |archive-date=March 17, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140317023338/http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/1.04/mediasaurus_pr.html |url-status=live}}</ref>
; Ritual Abuse, Hot Air, and Missed Opportunities: Science Views Media: The [[American Association for the Advancement of Science]] (AAAS) invited Crichton to address scientists' concerns about how they are portrayed in the media, which was delivered to the AAAS in Anaheim, California on January 25, 1999.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Ritual Abuse, Hot Air, and Missed Opportunities|journal=Science|volume=283|issue=5407|pages=1461–1463|doi=10.1126/science.283.5407.1461|year=1999|last1=Crichton|first1=M.|bibcode=1999Sci...283.1461C|s2cid=154610174}}</ref>
; Environmentalism as Religion: This was not the first discussion of environmentalism as a religion, but it caught on and was widely quoted. Crichton explains his view that religious approaches to the environment are inappropriate and cause damage to the natural world they intend to protect.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.michaelhoskinson.com/michael-crichton-environmentalism-is-a-religion/ |title=Michael Crichton: Environmentalism is a Religion |date=December 12, 2017 |access-date=September 1, 2020 |archive-date=October 29, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201029211056/https://www.michaelhoskinson.com/michael-crichton-environmentalism-is-a-religion/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=three /> The speech was delivered to the [[Commonwealth Club of California|Commonwealth Club]] in San Francisco, California on September 15, 2003.
; Science Policy in the 21st century: Crichton outlined several issues before a joint meeting of liberal and conservative think tanks. The speech was delivered at [[American Enterprise Institute|AEI]]–[[Brookings Institution]] in Washington, D.C., on January 25, 2005.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Chehoski|first1=Robert|title=Critical Perspectives on Climate Disruption|date=2005|publisher=The Rosen Publishing Group|isbn=978-1-4042-0539-0|page=[https://archive.org/details/criticalperspect00robe/page/7 7]|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xz_MasQkMz8C|access-date=April 5, 2017|chapter=Introduction|url=https://archive.org/details/criticalperspect00robe/page/7}}</ref>
; The Case for Skepticism on Global Warming: On January 25, 2005, at the [[National Press Club (USA)|National Press Club]] in Washington, D.C., Crichton delivered a detailed explanation of why he criticized the consensus view on global warming. Using published UN data, he argued that claims for catastrophic warming arouse doubt and that reducing CO<sub>2</sub> is vastly more difficult than is commonly presumed. He spoke on why societies are morally unjustified in spending vast sums on a speculative issue when people around the world are dying of starvation and disease.<ref name=three>{{Cite web |last=Crichton |first=Michael |title=Three Speeches by Michael Crichton |place=Washington, D.C. |publisher=Science & Public Policy Institute |date=December 2009 |url=http://scienceandpublicpolicy.org/images/stories/papers/commentaries/crichton_3.pdf |journal= |access-date=April 26, 2011 |archive-date=December 18, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101218123839/http://scienceandpublicpolicy.org/images/stories/papers/commentaries/crichton_3.pdf |url-status=usurped}}</ref>
; Caltech Michelin Lecture: "Aliens Cause Global Warming" January 17, 2003. In the spirit of his science fiction writing, Crichton details research on [[nuclear winter]] and [[SETI]] Drake equations relative to global warming science.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Hatfield|first1=Michael|title=Game Theory in Management: Modelling Business Decisions and their Consequences|date=2012|publisher=Gower Publishing, Ltd|isbn=978-1-4094-5940-8|page=97|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OwAgeMZQzt4C|chapter=Deconstructing Risk Management|access-date=September 10, 2017|archive-date=December 27, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191227145625/https://books.google.com/books?id=OwAgeMZQzt4C|url-status=live}}</ref>
; Testimony before the United States Senate: Crichton was invited to testify before the Senate in September 2005, as an "expert witness on global warming."<ref>p.8 Johansen, Bruce Elliott ''Silenced!: Academic Freedom, Scientific Inquiry, and the First Amendment Under Siege in America'' Greenwood Publishing Group, 2007</ref> The speech was delivered to the [[Committee on Environment and Public Works]] in Washington, D.C.
; Complexity Theory and Environmental Management: In previous speeches, Crichton criticized environmental groups for failing to incorporate [[complexity theory and organizations|complexity theory]]. Here he explains in detail why complexity theory is essential to environmental management, using the history of Yellowstone Park as an example of what not to do. The speech was delivered to the Washington Center for Complexity and Public Policy in Washington, D.C., on November 6, 2005.<ref>[http://www.complexsys.org/publicprograms.html "An Afternoon with Michael Crichton: In collaboration with The Smithsonian Associates"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120531095208/http://www.complexsys.org/publicprograms.html |date=May 31, 2012}}, ''Washington Center for Complexity and Public Policy'', Washington, D.C., November 6, 2005</ref><ref>[http://www.michaelcrichton.net/video-speeches-smithsonian.html "Michael Crichton – Fear and Complexity and Environmental Management in the 21st Century"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120515030251/http://www.michaelcrichton.net/video-speeches-smithsonian.html |date=May 15, 2012}}, video from talk, ''[[Smithsonian Associates|The Smithsonian Associates]]'' and the ''Washington Center for Complexity and Public Policy'', Washington, D.C., November 6, 2005</ref>
; Genetic Research and Legislative Needs: While writing ''[[Next (Crichton novel)|Next]]'', Crichton concluded that laws covering genetic research desperately needed to be revised, and spoke to congressional staff members about problems ahead. The speech was delivered to a group of legislative staffers in Washington, D.C., on September 14, 2006.<ref>A Talk to Legislative Staffers
https://web.archive.org/web/20080513233120/http://www.michaelcrichton.com/speech-legislativestaffers.html</ref>
; Gell-Mann amnesia effect: In a speech in 2002, Crichton coined the term [[Gell-Mann amnesia effect]] to describe the phenomenon of experts reading articles within their fields of expertise and finding them to be error-ridden and full of misunderstandings, but seemingly forgetting those experiences when reading articles in the same publications written on topics outside of their fields of expertise, which they believe to be credible. He explained that he had chosen the name ironically, because he had once discussed the effect with physicist [[Murray Gell-Mann]], "and by dropping a famous name I imply greater importance to myself, and to the effect, than it would otherwise have."<ref name="Crichton-speech">{{cite speech |first=Michael |last=Crichton |author-link=Michael Crichton |title=Why Speculate? |event=[[International Leadership Forum]] |location=La Jolla, California, US |url=http://www.michaelcrichton.net/speech-whyspeculate.html |access-date=October 4, 2023 |date=April 26, 2002 |archive-date=July 14, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070714204136/http://www.michaelcrichton.net/speech-whyspeculate.html |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=":02">{{Cite journal |last=Kilov |first=Daniel |date=November 9, 2020 |title=The brittleness of expertise and why it matters |url=https://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11229-020-02940-5 |journal=[[Synthese]] |language=en |volume=199 |issue=1–2 |pages=3431–3455 |doi=10.1007/s11229-020-02940-5 |s2cid=255060797 |issn=0039-7857 |via=[[SpringerLink]]}}</ref>