The phoney science in State of Fear

James Hansen, directors of the Columbia University Earth Institute and Goddard Institute for Space Studies responds to allegations by Michael Crichton that he made predictions about global warming that turned out to 300% too high:

Michael Crichton's latest fictional novel, "State of Fear", designed to discredit concerns about global warming, purports to use the scientific method. The book is sprinkled with references to scientific papers, and Crichton intones in the introduction that his "footnotes are real". But does Crichton really use the scientific method? Or is it something closer to scientific fraud?

Hanson neatly dispatches Crichton and concludes with the following grave warning about the seperation between science and the state:

So how did Crichton conclude that our prediction was in error 300%? Beats me. Crichton writes fiction and seems to make up things as he goes along. He doesn't seem to have the foggiest notion about the science that he writes about. Perhaps that is o.k. for a science fiction writer.

However, I recently heard that, in considering the global warming issue, a United States Senator is treating words from Crichton as if they had scientific or practical validity. If so, wow -- Houston, we have a problem!

Source :::[Michael Crichton's "Scientific Method"] by James E. Hansen
Discussion of Crichton's science fiction by real climate scientists :::[realclimate.org]

Other posts on Michael Crichton or the "global warming debate"

• Now Michael Crichton sueing Dan Brown.
• In defense of global warming 'alarmism'.

Tags: global+warming, climate+science, Michael+Crichton, James+Hansen, global+warming+skeptics