Debunking Climate Change Warnings
Crichton does not debunk climate change or suggest that global warming is a myth or hoax. But the book is dedicated to raising questions about the validity of the scientific evidence which is driving the concerns about those issues. To ensure that he is not merely viewed as a crackpot climate change denier, even though the book is a novel, it is packed with footnotes and an extensive bibliography. To further underline this view, he includes a fictional character who does represent the kind of factually-challenged opponent and proceeds to kill him off in ironic fashion by having the very things he claims to be a myth serve as his executioner.
The Politicizing of Science
Another unusual tactic for a work of fiction is the addition of a non-fiction essay written by the author titled “Why Politicized Science is Dangerous.” The concerns that Crichton raises directly about this particular social concern is thematically dramatized throughout his fictional construct as conflicts between characters of opposing camps. This is most effectively conveyed through characters revealing the ways that statistical information can be manipulated to serve political purposes without necessarily undermining the underlying facts.
Truth and Fear
The novel examines the nature of truth as a singular existing fact and the means by which that truth is exploited and manipulated to instill fear so that it becomes a separate existing fact. The disconnection here is one associated with truth. When does a fact cease to be true? And when does a truth begin to separate from the facts? The novel explores the subjectivity of objective research to explore the means by which truth becomes a perspective even as the facts remain objectively unchanged.
