A little tangential, but is this effect actually documented by Murray Gell-Mann himself? From what I can see I find no evidence to suggest that he actually experienced this effect. If so, it seems like Chriton's anecdote is using some deceitful rhetoric.
I can see no source claiming that Gell-Mann ever experienced this effect first hand. In which case Chrichton's may have nothing to do with the physicist and the effect is merely a fabrication of the writer's imagination. In any case, we should really ask 'is science journalism really that bad?'- do experts in the field find it to be incorrect.
