Let's be clear. The planet is not in jeopardy. We are in jeopardy. We haven't got the power to destroy the planet - or to save it. But we might have the power to save ourselves.
Interpretation
Humanity's actions impact its own survival, not the planet's existence.
This quote emphasizes that the planet itself will continue to exist regardless of human actions, but it is humanity that faces potential extinction. Michael Crichton suggests that our focus should be on saving ourselves rather than believing we can save the Earth, as the Earth is resilient and will endure even if we do not.
In practice
In a speech on climate change, one might say, 'Let's remember Michael Crichton’s words – it's not the planet that is in jeopardy, but our very existence.'
In other centuries, human beings wanted to be saved, or improved, or freed, or educated. But in our century, they want to be entertained. The great fear is not of disease or death, but of boredom. A sense of time on our hands, a sense of nothing to do. A sense that we are not amused.
Scientific research was much like prospecting: you went out and you hunted, armed with your maps and instruments, but in the ened your preparations did not matter, or even your intuition. You needed your luck, and whatever benefits accrued to the diligent, through sheer, grinding hard work.
Living systems are never in equilibrium. They are inherently unstable. They may seem stable, but they’re not. Everything is moving and changing. In a sense, everything is on the edge of collapse.
The characteristic human trait is not awareness but conformity, and the characteristic result is religious warfare. Other animals fight for territory or food; but, uniquely in the animal kingdom, human beings fight for their 'beliefs.'
A wonderful area for speculative academic work is the unknowable. These days religious subjects are in disfavor, but there are still plenty of good topics. The nature of consciousness, the workings of the brain, the origin of aggression, the origin of language, the origin of life on earth, SETI and life on other worlds...this is all great stuff. Wonderful stuff. You can argue it interminably. But it can't be contradicted, because nobody knows the answer to any of these topics.
Do you know what we call opinion in the absence of evidence? We call it prejudice.
We are discreet sheep; we wait to see how the drove is going, and then go with the drove.
The disc, being flat, has no real horizon. Any adventurous sailor who got funny ideas from staring at eggs and oranges for too long and set out for the antipodes soon learned that the reason why distant ships sometimes looked as though they were disappearing over the edge of the world was that they were disappearing over the edge of the world.
The consciousness of self is the greatest hindrance to the proper execution of all physical action.
Humility is the foundation of all the other virtues hence, in the soul in which this virtue does not exist there cannot be any other virtue except in mere appearance.
WAR, n. A by-product of the arts of peace. The most menacing political condition is a period of international amity.
In your own bosom you bear your heaven and earth, _x000D_ And all you behold, though it appears without, _x000D_ It is within, in your imagination, _x000D_ Of which this world of mortality is but a shadow.
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