01c. 1975 ADAll your life people will tell you things. And most of the time, probably ninety-five percent of the time, what they'll tell you will be wrong.Michael Crichton / quote ↗
02c. 1975 ADSkeptical scientists often point out, as Carl Sagan has, that the wonders of real science far surpass the supposed wonders of fringe science. I think it is possible to invert that idea, and to say that the wonders of real consciousness far surpass what conventional science admits can exist.Michael Crichton / quote ↗
03c. 1975 ADAs the practical value of altering consciousness becomes recognized, procedures to effect these alterations will become increasingly ordinary and unremarkable. The whole concept of changing states of consciousness will cease to have a threatening or exotic aspect.Michael Crichton / quote ↗
04c. 1975 ADNobody dares to solve the problems-because the solution might contradict your philosophy, and for most people clinging to beliefs is more important than succeeding in the world.Michael Crichton / quote ↗
05c. 1975 AD... we have created a man with not one brain but two. ... This new brain is intended to control the biological brain. ... The patient's biological brain is the peripheral terminal -- the only peripheral terminal -- for the new computer. ... And therefore the patient's biological brain, indeed his whole body, has become a terminal for the new computer. We have created a man who is one single, large, complex computer terminal. The patient is a read-out device for the new computer, and is helpless to control the readout as a TV screen is helpless to control the information presented on it.Michael Crichton / quote ↗
06c. 1975 ADThese animals are genetically engineered to be unable to survive in the real world. They can only live here in Jurassic Park. They are not free at all. They are essentially our prisoners.Michael Crichton / quote ↗
07c. 1975 ADIn any case, this was a deep human prejudice. Human beings to find a central command in any organization. States had governments. Corporations had CEOs. Schools had principals. Armies had generals. Human beings tended to believe that without central command, chaos would overwhelm the organization and nothing significant could be accomplished.Michael Crichton / quote ↗
09c. 1975 ADYou know what's wrong with scientific power?... It's a form of inherited wealth... Most kinds of power require a substantial sacrifice by whoever wants the power. There is an apprenticeship, a discipline lasting many years. Whatever kind of power you want. President of the company. Black belt in karate. Spiritual Guru. Whatever it is you seek, you have to put in the time, the practice, the effort. You must give up a lot to get it. It has to be very important to you. And once you have attained it, it is your power. It can't be given away: it resides in you. It is literally the result of your discipline. Now, what is interesting about this process is that, by the time someone has acquired the ability to kill with his bare hands, he has also matured to the point where he won't use it unwisely. So that kind of power has a built-in control. The discipline of getting the power changes you so that you won't abuse it. But scientific power is like inherited wealth: attained without discipline. You read what others have done, and you take the next step... There is no discipline... no mastery: old scientists are ignored. There is no humility before nature... A karate master does not kill people with his bare hands. He does not lose his temper and kill his wife. The person who kills is the person who has no discipline, no restraint, and who has purchased his power in the form of a Saturday night special. And that is the kind of power that science fosters, and permits.Michael Crichton / quote ↗
10c. 1975 ADWhen you have a strongly held belief, don't you think it's important to express that belief accurately?Michael Crichton / quote ↗
11c. 1975 ADMy own sense is that the acquisition of self knowledge has been made difficult by the modern world. More and more human beings live in vast urban environments, surrounded by other human beings and the creations of human beings. The natural world, the traditional source of self-awareness, is increasingly absent.Michael Crichton / quote ↗
12c. 1975 ADRaising children is, in a sense, the reason the society exists in the first place. It's the most important thing that happens, and it's the culmination of all the tools and language and social structure that has evolved.Michael Crichton / quote ↗
13c. 1975 ADYou are the reason why he exists on this earth. You don't have the right to abandon him just because he's inconvenient or has trouble in school.Michael Crichton / quote ↗
14c. 1975 ADThey want to see their expectation... Entertainment has nothing to do reality. Entertainment is antithetical to reality.Michael Crichton / quote ↗
16c. 1975 ADHuman beings are so destructive. I sometimes think we're a kind of plague, that will scrub the earth clean. We destroy things so well that I sometimes think, maybe that's our function. Maybe every few eons, some animal comes along that kills off the rest of the world, clears the decks, and lets evolution proceed to its next phase.Michael Crichton / quote ↗
17c. 1975 ADFor our own species, evolution occurs mostly through our behavior. We innovate new behavior to adapt.Michael Crichton / quote ↗
18c. 1975 ADBut complex animals had obtained their adaptive flexibility at some cost--they had traded one dependency for another. It was no longer necessary to change their bodies to adapt, because now their adaptation was behavior, socially determined. That behavior required learning. In a sense, among higher animals adaptive fitness was no longer transmitted to the next generation by DNA at all. It was now carried by teaching.Michael Crichton / quote ↗
19c. 1975 ADBecause the history of evolution is that life escapes all barriers. Life breaks free. Life expands to new territories. Painfully, perhaps even dangerously. But life finds a way.Michael Crichton / quote ↗
20c. 1975 ADThey have to leave their mark. They can't just watch. They can't just appreciate. They can't just fit into the natural order. They have to make something unnatural happen. That is the scientist's job, and now we have whole societies that try to be scientific... We've had four hundred years of modern science, and we ought to know by now what it's good for, and what it's not good for. It's time for a change.Michael Crichton / quote ↗
21c. 1975 ADAll your life, other people will try to take your accomplishments away from you. Don't you take it away from yourself.Michael Crichton / quote ↗
23c. 1975 ADAt the edge of chaos, unexpected outcomes occur. The risk to survival is severe.Michael Crichton / quote ↗
24c. 1975 ADKids didn't have huge backpacks when I was their age. We didn't have backpacks at all. Now it seemed all the kids had them. You saw little second-graders bent over like sherpas, dragging themselves through the school doors under the weight of their packs. Some of the kids had their packs on rollers, hauling them like luggage at the airport. I didn't understand any of this. The world was becoming digital; everything was smaller and lighter. But kids at school lugged more weight than ever.Michael Crichton / quote ↗
