God Bless Michael Crichton, Here Comes Google.

I want to take today and Sunday to reflect on the vision of a fantastic writer a true futurist and a wonderful physician. His Name is Michael Crichton MD. Yes true, he did write some fantastic books....but in each of them a true moral being told......


Just because we can do something, doesn't mean we should.....Even more importantly his stories revolved around those who make great discoveries and how they become corrupted by fame and avarice.


His words are most important in an age when everything is "Science" I actually see Michael reminding us of how we can't let, false science be pushed forward as truth. Never more is this evident than in the "Best Invention of 2008"


Today the Wall Street Journal agrees with my point.


You see, I have mentioned Dr Crichton several times in the past.....a Graduate of Harvard Medical School and a lover of science and medicine, he is quite a role model. From the WSJ...


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........As a result, Crichton was sometimes accused of being a Luddite. In fact, he was a champion of good science, and never more so than in a 2003 lecture at Caltech, hilariously titled "Aliens Cause Global Warming."


I too have heard those words about my blog and my ideas. It is the unreasonable man who challenges "conventional wisdom" upon whom the world depends for change. Bad Science is no replacement for Lack of Truth....we must be very careful as we push forward advancing healthcare with technology and "science" We must be very sure that if we are to put something forward for patients that the benefits clearly outweigh the risks......And if we are to have no chance of healing we at least Do No Harm....


That was Dr Crichton's message. I am so very sad to see him pass......his 26 novels and numerous screenplays will be a forever reminder of how


"As the 20th century drew to a close," he warned, "the connection between hard scientific fact and public policy became increasingly elastic. In part this was possible because of the complacency of the scientific profession; in part because of the lack of good science education among the public; in part because of the rise of specialized advocacy groups which have been enormously effective in getting publicity and shaping policy; and in great part because of the decline of the media as an independent assessor of fact."



This is why I formed HelixGene with Drew Y, This is why we started Helix Health of Connecticut, This is why we volunteer to teach Genetics to High School Students, This is why we always have to remember that "Bad Science is no replacement for absence of evidence"


I see the storm clouds rising, people looking to make healthcare efficient, people who didn't study the biological sciences....instead they chose computer science.....I just hope and pray we can demonstrate that science can be just as bad as poor programming.......


Need further proof they are coming? From the WSJ....Bret Swanson


On health care, let's face facts. We are not going to "solve" the entitlements crisis by gouging American producers to pay for the current Medicare/Medicaid abomination. Much better to transcend the issue with medical innovations and an entrepreneurial, consumer-driven market where more physicians go into medical technology, more nurses replace doctors, more technologies replace doctor visits, and, with properly-aligned incentives and real prices, more citizens take better care of their own health and thus their pocket books. The only way to escape current predictions of scarcity is the unforeseen abundance that entrepreneurship can bring


The Sherpa Says: Technology is not Science...it is not even bad science......it just is....and when you pair that with Bad Science....well, then you have some problems.......Oh Michael we need you now more than ever......