I started reading Michael Crichton’s "State of Fear" this summer. I say “started” rather than “finished” with little pride, but having a one-year-old has slowed my reading speed to about a tenth. Those who've been there will understand.

I've enjoyed several film adaptations of Crichton’s books in the past, but this is the first time I’m actually reading one of his novels. It was an intriguing tweet by Hal Finney that got me into it. Interestingly, the tweet is from around the same time he talks about reducing Bitcoin’s CO2 emissions (was he serious?).

All these ecological collapse scare stories feel like a constant mix of urgency and contradiction. On the one hand, some of these fears are reinforced yearly (goodbye biodiversity); on the other, discredited by new data. It’s hard to form a definitive opinion, and reading State of Fear doesn’t help much but increases openmindedness even if it is fiction ofc I know.

Especially when you read about things like Pakistan’s recent discovery of massive oil reserves (a related topic: peak oil).