Wednesday 20 July 2022

WHY SPECULATE?

A talk by Michael Crichton, International Leadership Forum, La Jolla, 26 April 2002

There are two times in a man's life when he should not speculate: when he can't afford it, and when he can. – Mark Twain

Jon Chase photo/Harvard News Office - Harvard Gazette, CC BY 3.0, Link

My topic for today is the prevalence of speculation in media. What does it mean? Why has it become so ubiquitous? Should we do something about it? If so, what? And why? Should we care at all? Isn't speculation valuable? Isn't it natural? And so on.

I will join this speculative trend and speculate about why there is so much speculation. In keeping with the trend, I will try to express my views without any factual support, simply providing you with a series of bald assertions.

This is not my natural style, and it's going to be a challenge for me, but I will do my best. Some of you may see that I have written out my talk, which is already a contradiction of principle. To keep within the spirit of our time, it should really be off the top of my head.