Could Jurassic Park Happen In Real Life?

Could Jurassic Park Happen In Real Life?
A real-world Jurassic Park is not as impossible as it may seem, but there are some key issues that make the probability of the park happening low.
Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Parkmakes an effort to ground its science in reality, but could the events of the movie actually happen in real life? The science behind the creation of a dinosaur park is explored in detail in Michael Crichton’s original Jurassic Park novel, and Spielberg manages to reference the key points of his ideas in the film adaptation. The character John Hammond works with the scientists of his company, InGen, to extract dinosaur DNA from mosquitos preserved in amber. From the growth of the dinosaurs to their eventual escape and destruction of the park, Jurassic Park avoids making too many illogical and unrealistic jumps to move its plot.
A number of things would need to go right — and wrong — for the events of Jurassic Park to happen in real life. Some of the necessities for a real-life Jurassic Park, including a John Hammond billionaire eccentric type with the will to build the park and the greed and inattention to detail of a large-scale operation that could lead to the deaths of innocents, are all very possible. The most glaring issue and the reason the movie couldn’t actually happen in real life, however, is that there would need to be a way to grow ancient animals in a lab, and it's debatable whether that could ever happen.
Cloning Dinosaurs Via Petrified Mosquitoes Is Not Plausible
The dinosaurs in Jurassic Park are grown via the blood found in ancient mosquitoes that John Hammond's company mines. According to the Mr. D.N.A. cartoon that leads the movie's characters through the scientific process of dinosaur creation, the genes of the prehistoric animals were trapped and preserved within the mosquitoes. Unfortunately, not only are perfectly preserved ancient mosquito specimens rare even in the Jurassic franchise, but those that contain measurable amounts of blood do not have any recognizable DNA, which is a delicate molecule that degrades rapidly, according to Forbes. Even well-preserved whole animals like mammoths are unable to be cloned by today's scientists, according to CNN.
It doesn’t seem like the science to clone a full dinosaur is possible, but Jurassic Park does in part account for the limits of modern science. To fill in the gaps of their dinosaurs, InGen scientists use toad DNA. This is in part fanciful, as animal genomes can’t be mixed and matched together like a LEGO set. There is some real-world basis to the idea, however. The modern diet is made up of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), and even some animals are modified to make them more resistant to disease. Splicing frog and dinosaur DNA together may not be feasible, but the framework of the idea is actually a reality.
One Man Can Have The Vision For The Park
John Hammond is the architect, the funder, and the creative genius behind the titular Jurassic Park.He is the key man when it comes to getting the attraction up and running. While Hammond does have an inflated ego and his cavalier attitude about the power he’s created knocks against his character, he truly wants to make a zoological park where everyone can come and appreciate something nearly impossible. His ultimate goal is to show people magic. It isn’t money or fame Hammond is looking for; he just wants to bring something amazing to people like he did when he was younger with his flea circus.
The Jurassic Park novel’s John Hammond is different from the movie version; he’s much more of a megalomaniacal businessman in the book. As a purveyor of magical attractions and impossible shows himself, it makes sense Spielberg would empathize with a different characterization of Hammond. There may not be a person with the exact temperament of either the book or film Hammond, but there are plenty of incredibly wealthy individuals who have proven they are willing to spend money on ventures people can only dream of, such as flying to space. Any of these people could decide that a zoo with the most amazing creatures would be a worthwhile opportunity.
Corporate Espionage & Irresponsibility
Jurassic Park’saction is kicked off when Dennis Nedry steals dinosaur embryos for sale to Lewis Dodgson, who reappears in Jurassic World Dominionin a much bigger role. As part of his plan, Nedry turns off the power to the island, allowing the dinosaurs to break through the de-electrified fences. With a secret as groundbreaking as the one Hammond discovered, plenty of other biotech organizations would do whatever they could to get their hands on the information. Corporate espionage is the least of what some large industries would be willing to do in order to acquire groundbreaking technology from InGen.
The breakdown in realism comes with why Nedry would be willing to sabotage InGen and Hammond and why he seems to be the only one capable of operating the park’s infrastructure. Nedry plans against InGen in Jurassic Park in part because he claims he’s underpaid, despite Hammond stating he’s spared no expense on the rest of the park. No real organization would let an employee as critical as the chief system architect become so disgruntled to the point that he is willing to commit a crime. Any other organization would either pay that employee, or the punishment for espionage would be so great the risk wouldn’t be worth the reward.
Park Visitors & Staff In Danger From The Dinosaurs
When the T-rex breaks from its cage at the end of the first act in Jurassic Park, the park shuts down, and the people left are in mortal peril. Dr. Alan Grant and the other survivors on the island may be one small step away from being devoured by a dinosaur at any moment, but the reality of the situation would be much less intense. The dinosaurs of Jurassic Park aren’t monsters; they’re animals. They may be prehistoric and their behaviors unknown, but the movie goes to great lengths to show they behave a lot like modern-day organisms, moving in herds for example.
The way the dinosaurs behave in Jurassic Park is closer to horror villains than true animals. This can be explained away fairly easily, as no one knows exactly how intelligent dinosaurs were, and it’s possible they would pursue people more persistently than other animals. If dinosaurs are anything like modern animals, however, they would probably be happy to get as far away from humans as possible. Some of the best scenes of Jurassic Parkare of characters interacting with the dinosaurs as if they are regular animals. It would not be a stretch to say even the predators probably would really act less aggressively than is depicted in the movie.