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Michael Crichton on Why Gene Patents Are Bad
BayaWeaver writes "Michael Crichton, author of The Andromeda Strain and Jurassic Park has made a strong case against gene patents in an op-ed for the New York Times. Striking an emotional chord, he begins with 'You, or someone you love, may die because of a gene patent that should never have been granted in the first place. Sound far-fetched? Unfortunately, it's only too real.' From there, he moves on to use logic, statistics, and his way with words to make his point. Arguing against the high costs of gene therapies thanks to related patents, he eventually offers hope that one day legislation will de-incentivize the hoarding of scientific knowledge. As he points out: 'When SARS was spreading across the globe, medical researchers hesitated to study it — because of patent concerns. There is no clearer indication that gene patents block innovation, inhibit research and put us all at risk.'"
Crichton has made his living writing books about science going too far, whether it's dinosaurs or robots, or nanotech, or time fricking travel. Every book has the same theme of rogue science, and you quote him basically saying the same thing, and I'm supposed to think that this guy is in any way science friendly? Jesus, he's like the modern day reincarnation of Mary Shelly.
ad logicam Claiming a proposition is false because it was presented as the conclusion of a fallacious argument.
I think that Crichton is probably an idiot, so we may be that much in agreement.
But to think that Shelley's work--and probably Crichton's too, though I can't say, not having read any of his books--is only a warning against the potential excesses of science is fantastically shallow. Frankenstein's creature can equally well be understood as political allegory or really, allegory for anything that might come back to bite you on the ass; think about the western (and other) powers training of the Afghan Mujahideen for example for example...
Literature is typically much more subtle than it seems when you just read the Cliff's Notes versions.