Jurassic Park Is A Warning About The Future
By: Tom Stevenson
Tags: Dinosaurs, Future, Film, Philosophy, Science

65 million years in the making

The premise of Jurassic Park is of a giant zoo that is home to dinosaurs who have been brought back to life after 65 million years of extinction. A group of people including a palaeontologist, paleobotanist, mathematician and a ‘blood-sucking lawyer’ are brought to the island to inspect the facility before it’s opened to the public.

In an ominous scene as the group are about to land on the island, Dr Alan Grant, the palaeontologist, is unable to fasten his seat belt and has to improvise while the helicopter makes a bumpy landing.

Once the group land on the island they are shown around and see a variety of dinosaurs that have been brought back from the dead. It’s a visual spectacle and one that blows the protagonists away. I mean, who wouldn’t be in awe at the sight of a brachiosaurus casually walking by!?

However, this is about as good as things get for the visitors. The serenity of the park starts to collapse in the face of unforeseen consequences. The unique selling point of the park is that it contains creatures which were once extinct.

Various species of dinosaur have been brought back to life such as Tyrannosaur-Rex, Velociraptor and Triceratops. When the visitors talk with the geneticist who led the effort to bring the animals to life, we learn that they were less concerned with the ethics of bringing the animals back. What they were preoccupied with was whether they could.

In short, there wasn’t a debate about whether they should do it. We see the folly in this thinking later in the film when the park’s security systems fail and the dinosaurs run amok.

If they had only engineered plant-eating dinosaurs, there wouldn’t have been an issue. Yet, those in charge of the park decided to bring carnivorous dinosaurs back from the dead, who once set free, cause havoc. While we may not be able to bring back dinosaurs, the possibilities for other animals and, indeed, genetically altering ourselves is possible.

The potential of this genetic power is immense. It needs careful consideration before we wield it. Mankind has the power to remake the human condition, but it should not be done without considering all aspects good and bad.

Already, we have seen this happen. A scientist in China gene-edited two babies changing a gene, CCR5, to protect the children against HIV. This sounds good on the surface, who wouldn’t want their children to be resistant to HIV? But, there are more questions than answers.

Will the babies grow up to be healthy. Will their genetic modifications be passed down the generations if they have children? Is the process of gene-editing safe and ethical?

It’s a pandora box that opens up a wealth of possibilities, some of which are terrifying. For instance, if the practice becomes widespread, the rich will likely be the only ones able to afford it. This opens up the door to a future where embryos are edited in vitro to protect against any diseases, to boost intelligence and physical strength.

This would effectively create two-tiers of humans, with those at the bottom inferior to this new breed of ‘superhuman’ in every way. There is no saying what the effect on humanity could be, although it could be along the lines of the film Gattaca, where humans whose genetics are considered inferior are discriminated against.

Science advances at a fast pace, the progress in a short space of time can be astounding. However, as Jurassic Park shows, we have to consider the ethical implications of such changes before we go ahead with them.