Back in 1993, the premise of Jurassic Park was pure fantasy. Today, however, the gray area between the world of make-believe and reality is not so thin. Sure, maybe the idea of a Disneyland-inspired theme park with real-life, dangerous dinosaurs behind cages seems a bit far-fetched—but does it, really? Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of Michael Crichton’s novel depicts a scientist’s dream gone wrong. “Life finds a way,” the core quote of the movie, not only sets a precedent for the theme of the sequels to follow, but also speaks truth to science’s inherent curiosity today.
Indeed, the technological advances of today’s world no longer tantalize the idea of science fiction. Take a film like I, Robot whose premise depicts a world where highly intelligent robots walk amongst the public and fill human workspaces. Back in 2004, the idea of a robot walking and conversing in human spaces seemed just as likely as Marty McFLy’s hoverboard in Back to the Future Part II. However, in early January, a UK company called Engineered Arts introduced the first ever humanoid robot. So, if we can create artificial intelligence what would stop us from bringing back the dinosaurs? In this article, we approach Jurassic Park using real-life scientific and technological discovery.
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Archeologists all over the world are claiming to have found DNA strands of prehistoric mammals—dinosaurs included. It would never be possible to positively replicate the DNA of prehistoric dinosaurs, but instead create a new modified species. One of the most famous cases in which DNA was extracted was from a woolly mammoth who died over 4,000 years ago. The mammoth was found in Siberia preserved under several layers of ice. However, no dinosaur DNA has been extracted, only dinosaur blood.
Dinosaurs will never be biologically “perfect,” but instead more diverse and up to speed for today’s standards. You can walk into any car dealership in the country, and they will sell you on this year’s latest model that has all the newest features that will make your car the best model yet. Scientists have a similar take on dinosaurs. A few years back there were debates about Jurassic Park all over the internet claiming the dinosaurs weren’t authentic enough to their prehistoric predecessors. Dinosaurs are basically flightless birds, and therefore should have had wings and feathers. This was squashed by the counterargument that Spielberg’s dinosaurs were made from the DNA from a variety of reptiles.
That being said, today’s dinosaurs would be a class all their own. Recreating dinosaurs wouldn’t be as simple as cloning a cat or a dog. There is not enough genetic material to work with to clone a dinosaur. Instead, scientists would have to splice different genes together to create an entirely new life from very scratch. Some say it’s playing God, while others believe these scientific advances could be a huge asset to the world today. Genetically modified dinosaurs could potentially hold the cure for diseases around the world—it does, however, raise questions of cost and principle.
Who is the Real-Life John Hammond?
In Jurassic Park, Dr. John Hammond was the CEO and creator of Jurassic Park. With Elon Musk’s recent return from space, many believed he would be the one to, like Hammond, try and capitalize on the resurgence of prehistoric life. The co-founder of Neuralink, Max Hodak, tweeted about the potential to bring back dinosaurs: “Biodiversity (antifragility) is definitely valuable; conservation is important and makes sense. But why do we stop there? Why don’t we more intentionally try to generate novel diversity?” Hodak’s entire argument on an “exotic novel” species of dinosaur teeters on the positives it could bring to the medical industry, but he isn’t naive to how wrong the theory could play out in reality. Call it mad scientist syndrome or pure genius, but it is no surprise that the reemergence of dinosaurs would come from the company of Elon Musk and Max Hodak. What’s more, The Adam Smith Institute has even claimed that dinosaurs can be back by 2050. They claim that with one single successfully engineered dinosaur embryo they could create a whole species to follow.
Where Would We Put The Dinosaurs
It is mentioned that the island that Jurassic Park is built on is called “Isla Nublar” near Costa Rica. Although a real island in Costa Rica was used for the establishing shot, Isla Nublar was fictitious. Costa Rica was initially chosen as a proper climate to house the dinosaurs because it was isolated and mimicked a similar climate to the one that existed millions of years ago. So, if we were able to genetically engineer dinosaurs, where would we put them? Sure, an isolated island that houses no human life would be an appropriate answer, but that was already explored in The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park III. In one instance, a young girl traveling with her family is eaten alive by a swarm of small ferocious dinosaurs, and in the third installment to the franchise, a young boy parasailing with his uncle crash into the island. One of the main points that Hodak iterates in creating a novel species is that the new dinosaurs would be different from those that existed before. As a result, throw in evolutions, and you have dinosaurs that can adapt to swimming large distances or flying miles to lands that are not so isolated after all.
The Verdict on New Dino DNA
John Hammond thought that electric fences and isolation could keep his creations at bay, but a lightening storm quickly shows him his mistakes. Jurassic Park today wouldn’t be able to safely exist virtually anywhere. As Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) famously quotes, “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.” And this rings true to a lot of technology today. For years, countless science fiction stories have warned the world of the blunders of science and technology and how fast things can take a turn for the worse. Sure, dinosaurs can be somewhat resurrected from extinction, but like Jurassic Park and the sequels so repetitively point out, there is no place to house these enormous creatures.
