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Hats off to Michael Crichton: 1942 - 2008

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AtomSmasher:

--- Quote from: Peale on November 06, 2008, 01:09:57 pm ---
--- Quote from: shardian on November 06, 2008, 08:43:45 am ---After reading Timeline, I spent alot of time researching Quantum Theory. It was really neat stuff. The book was absolutely fantastic, but the movie sucked balls.

--- End quote ---

Agreed.  The book was awesome.  The movie was an abomination.  If I were Crichton I would have had my name removed from it.

--- End quote ---
One thing that really bugged me about the book was that they weren't actually time travelling, they were essentially travelling to an alternate earth that is currently at a different period in it's timeline, which they go into detail explaining and is fine.  The problem comes from the fact that they found a "help me" sign from their teacher in the archaeological dig, which doesn't make sense because he travelled to an alternate earth, not the past of this current earth. 

The only way it makes sense is if there's an infinite loop of earths all going through the same exact motions, so back in this earths past, an alternate teacher from an alternate earth travelled to this earth and got stuck there and left the "help me" message.  This does solve the problem, but it's never brought up in the book, they just assume the message is from their teacher, and we shouldn't be forced to come up with theories to explain away major plot holes.

Other then that, great book.   ;D

Ummon:
Crichton wasn't a great writer, but he could write. The Lost World wasn't bad. Sphere was ridiculously horrible. None of his stuff was really original, but he was a genre writer.

danny_galaga:

--- Quote from: AtomSmasher on November 08, 2008, 11:42:29 am ---
--- Quote from: Peale on November 06, 2008, 01:09:57 pm ---
--- Quote from: shardian on November 06, 2008, 08:43:45 am ---After reading Timeline, I spent alot of time researching Quantum Theory. It was really neat stuff. The book was absolutely fantastic, but the movie sucked balls.

--- End quote ---

Agreed.  The book was awesome.  The movie was an abomination.  If I were Crichton I would have had my name removed from it.

--- End quote ---
One thing that really bugged me about the book was that they weren't actually time travelling, they were essentially travelling to an alternate earth that is currently at a different period in it's timeline, which they go into detail explaining and is fine.  The problem comes from the fact that they found a "help me" sign from their teacher in the archaeological dig, which doesn't make sense because he travelled to an alternate earth, not the past of this current earth. 

The only way it makes sense is if there's an infinite loop of earths all going through the same exact motions, so back in this earths past, an alternate teacher from an alternate earth travelled to this earth and got stuck there and left the "help me" message.  This does solve the problem, but it's never brought up in the book, they just assume the message is from their teacher, and we shouldn't be forced to come up with theories to explain away major plot holes.

Other then that, great book.   ;D

--- End quote ---

i liked the movie, but then i didnt read the book



JE SUIS UN ESPION!

so long michael...

SavannahLion:

--- Quote from: AtomSmasher on November 08, 2008, 11:42:29 am ---
--- Quote from: Peale on November 06, 2008, 01:09:57 pm ---
--- Quote from: shardian on November 06, 2008, 08:43:45 am ---After reading Timeline, I spent alot of time researching Quantum Theory. It was really neat stuff. The book was absolutely fantastic, but the movie sucked balls.

--- End quote ---

Agreed.  The book was awesome.  The movie was an abomination.  If I were Crichton I would have had my name removed from it.

--- End quote ---
One thing that really bugged me about the book was that they weren't actually time travelling, they were essentially travelling to an alternate earth that is currently at a different period in it's timeline, which they go into detail explaining and is fine.  The problem comes from the fact that they found a "help me" sign from their teacher in the archaeological dig, which doesn't make sense because he travelled to an alternate earth, not the past of this current earth. 

The only way it makes sense is if there's an infinite loop of earths all going through the same exact motions, so back in this earths past, an alternate teacher from an alternate earth travelled to this earth and got stuck there and left the "help me" message.  This does solve the problem, but it's never brought up in the book, they just assume the message is from their teacher, and we shouldn't be forced to come up with theories to explain away major plot holes.

Other then that, great book.   ;D

--- End quote ---

I like level III myself, but I haven't explored Level IV much. Anyhow, let's toy with it a little bit. If we assume each universe is cyclic then it can be assumed that each "Earth" can be at different stages of existence. If each plane must equate to an ever changing formula, then it becomes a matter of finding a universe that can accept an additional variable (the traveler/s) which explains the minor differences between the primary Universe and the secondary universes. The same theory definitely opens up the possibility of time travel, but never into our own past, which resolves the grandfather paradox very cleanly. Of course, that presents the problem of the individual variable being able to re-enter their own Universe seeing as how their own value and the equation for their original Universe has changed. An issue that Crichton only only hints at in passing in the book.  :dizzy:

We should be careful with that whole theorizing thing though. Dollars to donuts this conversation is going to attract the aluminum hats.   :burgerking:

Ummon:
Wow, here's a brutal commentary by another author:


Climate crank Michael Crichton dies at 66

Dead of cancer. And a medical doctor, too. I hate to see people felled by this great scourge. I feel sorry for his family.

Still -- the guy missed an awesome chance to be snatched out of his writing-chair and torn to pieces in broad daylight by a freak climate-crisis windstorm. That might have made up for the harm he did. I'd like to say that Dr Crichton's contemptibly paranoid view of climate politics will be missed, but... well... I know that if I myself, as an imaginative novelist, am ever tempted to believe that flying saucers are real or that Sasquatch lives next door, his bracing example will give me the courage to look at myself in the mirror and demand -- "am I pulling some kind of Crichton here?"

Crichton fans are writing in and complaining that I'm cruel to his memory. In a word, no. And in a lot of words, you don't understand yet, but you will. Okay: the guy was a pretty good screenwriter. Also, there have been worse novels than some of his. Especially the novels that aren't paranoid tracts about atmospheric science. But Crichton's one with the ages -- and the judgment of history will be harsh for him. He truly blotted his copybook. His legacy as a writer, thinker and public figure is shameful. Someone needs to say it now, because someday everyone will. Get used to it.

If you can't bring yourself to believe that yet, ask again in ten years.

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