Jurassic Park: Looks to the past, warns of the potential future
Most people today are quite familiar with the Jurassic Park movie series. The movies are some of today's most popular. Significantly less famous, however, is the novel Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton, despite having been a bestseller. Made in 1990, it follows a very similar plotline to the one in the first Jurassic Park movie, with some differences which I won't go into here.
The Jurassic Park novel is partially about the concerns about genetic engineering of the time. At the time it was less regulated, allowing companies to have more leeway in what they did. Jurassic Park demonstrated an exploitation of this relative lack of regulation. The public held, and still holds, ethical, environmental, and other concerns about genetic engineering's potential future. These include concerns of companies producing pests, pathogens, disruption of the environment, or creation of other dangerous organisms to either human or animal welfare, whether on purpose or as unintended consequences, as there were in Jurassic Park. This also could to more inequality towards middle or lower classes, who may have less access to new, expensive healthcare, or, in the case of Jurassic Park, "entertainment." There are also ethical issues, such as animals being treated as units of production rather than sentient beings, as well as potentially creating "failed" animals with genetic defects and causing them suffering, as well as manipulation of animals for human benefit or pleasure. These ethical issues are all referred to in the Jurassic Park novel.
Jurassic Park warns of the possibility of horrible accidents arising as a result of improper or inadequate regulation and management over potentially harmful technology. While Jurassic Park is mostly focused on genetic engineering, it also relates to modern concerns about AI, that without proper caution and supervision, there could be accidental negative consequences. So, in many ways, a book about bringing back the past is also a book warning about the potential future.
- Quintus
Nice blog. I never read the book but I did watch the movies. With all of the action in the movies I guess I never really thought about how it would effect things like the economy, but it makes a lot of sense why less fortunate people could fall more behind. It's interesting how the book is also new enough to talk about modern AI and how all of this has major problems.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I'd like to clarify something, though. The book doesn't ever directly mention or even hint at AI, but rather it talks about genetic engineering, and many of the concerns about genetic engineering also apply and relate to AI. Sorry if there was any misunderstanding.
DeleteI like this blog a lot. It talks about the deeper issues the book goes into more than the movie. I also read this book and the sequel. Very good.
ReplyDeleteI never really watched the movies and until now, never even knew there was a book. I like how the book isn't just action all in your face, but actually explores deeper issues. Good job on the post.
ReplyDeleteGood job. Do you think that the book or the movie does a better job exploring the themes you talk about in regards to the ethics of genetic engineering?
ReplyDeleteI personally think that the book goes more in depth, as it does with many other concepts, such as the technology of genetic engineering, chaos theory, and other concepts talked more briefly in the movie. The book mentions things such as the rich only having access to the park, the treatment of some dinosaurs as flawed, or as simply productions that can just be changed genetically to make humans happy, which are much less talked about in the movie.
DeleteI watched a few of the Jurassic Park movies but never realized there was a book. This book seems interesting as it goes in depth about genetic engineering and ethical issues!
ReplyDeleteI know some people who have read this book and loved it, and I've watched the movies before and enjoyed those. But yeah, the movies have more of a standard action movie thing going on, so diving into the ethical concerns in this book seems really interesting! I'll probably check this book out sometime.
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