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Scientific power is like inherited wealth attained without discipline. You read about what others have done, and you take the next step. You can do it very young. You can make progress very fast.

Michael Crichton

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Michael Crichton
Age: 66 †
Born: 1942
Born: October 23
Died: 2008
Died: November 4
Author
Basketball Player
Film Director
Film Producer
Medical Writer
Novelist
Physician Writer
Science Fiction Writer
Screenwriter
Chicago
Illinois
John Michael Crichton
Michael Douglas
Jeffery Hudson
John Lange
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...scientific power is like inherited wealth: attained without discipline. You read what others have done, and you take the next step. You can do it very young...there is no mastery, old scientists are ignored. There is no humility before nature...Its a form of inherited wealth. And you know what assholes congenitally rich people are.
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The notion that the natural world obeys its own rules and doesn't give a damn about your expectations comes as a massive shock. But the natural world is not so malleable. On the contrary, it will demand that you adapt to it - and if you don't, you die.
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Theories are just fantasies. And they change.
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If true computer music were ever written, it would only be listened to by other computers.
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You know what's wrong with scientific power? It's a form of inherited wealth. And you know what assholes congenitally rich people are.
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Whatever it is you seek, you have to put in the time, the practice, the effort. You must give up a lot to get it. It has to be very important to you. And once you have attained it, it is your power. It can't be given away : it resides in you. It is literally the result of your discipline.
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People were so naive about plants, Ellie thought. They just chose plants for appearance, as they would choose a picture for the wall. It never occurred to them that plants were actually living things, busily performing all the living functions of respiration, ingestion, excretion, reproduction---and defense.
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I tended to faint when I saw accident victims in the emergency ward, during surgery, or while drawing blood.
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I am certain there is too much certainty in the world.
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Geniuses never pay attention.
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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.
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Harassment is about power---the undue exercise of power by a superior over a subordinate.
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