What does the movie Jurassic Park teach us about the benefits and risks of technology?

This article uses the example of the movie Jurassic Park to convey the message that science and technology can bring benefits and convenience, but also risks and negative impacts that must be fully considered. It emphasizes the importance of responsible use of technology and being prepared for safety, and discusses the need to look beyond human interests.

 

Green science and technology has been on the rise in recent years as carbon dioxide emissions have become an issue. Although the term “green science and technology” has been coined recently, green science and technology is nothing more than the addition of eco-friendly aspects to existing science and technology. It has emerged as a kind of stopgap measure to solve environmental problems as they become more serious around the world. The environmental problems we face today are the result of reckless use of science and technology, ignoring the risks that scientists could have foreseen in the past. Science and technology have been developed for human convenience without sufficient consideration of the negative consequences that can occur. We have overlooked the dangers of science and technology, pursued profit and convenience, and are only now trying to fix the problems that have arisen.
In this context, the movie Jurassic Park (1993) comes to mind. Although the movie is almost 20 years old, I think it’s a great example of the mistakes scientists are making today. In this article, we’ll look at the events and characters in Jurassic Park to see how we should view science and technology.

 

 

The movie begins when Hammond, a businessman, resurrects dinosaurs by collecting their DNA from the blood of mosquitoes trapped in fossils and builds Jurassic Park on a remote island. When a fatality occurs at Jurassic Park before it opens, investors question the park’s safety, and Hammond invites paleontologist Dr. Grant, his colleague Dr. Eli, mathematician Dr. Malcolm, and lawyer Gennaro to join him on a mission to assess the park’s safety. Dr. Grant and Dr. Ellie, who have spent their lives studying dinosaur bones and fossils, are thrilled to see the living dinosaurs, while Gennaro, a lawyer who is skeptical of the park’s safety, supports the park in hopes of making a fortune. However, only Malcolm, a mathematician, criticizes Hammond and Gennaro for going against the laws of nature and chasing profits. Hammond insists that the park has safety controls in place and that nothing will go wrong. But things take a turn for the worse when a park employee disables the safety controls in order to steal dinosaur eggs. The dinosaurs in the park get out of control and start attacking humans. Luckily, the group manages to escape the dinosaurs and get off the island safely, but the movie ends on a cliffhanger.
While the outcome may seem like a happy ending of surviving a dangerous situation, I think we should focus more on the beginning of the movie. The technology to bring dinosaurs back to life by harvesting dinosaur DNA from mosquitoes is clearly a technology that could generate huge profits. However, we need to think deeply about why this technology was created in the first place. One of the main reasons for the development of biotechnology was to improve human life and ensure better health. Nevertheless, in Jurassic Park, this technology is being used for the benefit of just one person. This is a behavior that takes into account only one of the many aspects of this technology.
In a modern capitalist society, it’s impossible to exclude profit-making. While many people develop and use technology for their own benefit, it shouldn’t be the only thing that matters. While science and technology provide benefits and convenience, they also present risks and negative aspects that have not yet been revealed. This is not just a concern that science and technology itself will cause negative impacts. It’s a warning that human narrow-mindedness can lead to unnecessary risks. In the movie, Hammond and Gennaro face a serious crisis because they are so focused on profit that they overlook other important aspects. In the same way, technology can have a positive or negative impact depending on how it is used. The negative aspects of science and technology should never be overlooked, and we should pay more attention to the risks than the benefits when using technology.

 

 

In the movie, Grant and Dr. Ellie, who are positive about the safety of the park, change their minds when they are attacked by dinosaurs. Hammond also begins to have doubts about opening the park when his grandchildren are in danger. Their transformation is similar to that of modern scientists, who only began to realize the seriousness of carbon dioxide emissions after global warming occurred. Jurassic Park’s safety control system seems to be working fine until the accident, but it’s impossible to predict the future perfectly. The petty greed of a single park employee elevated the park’s potential dangers to reality, leading to a tragedy.
On March 11, 2011, an earthquake in Japan caused a nuclear power plant to explode. While the benefits of nuclear power are enormous, the damage it has caused has been far greater than the benefits. While many preparations were made when building the plant, it’s worth asking whether it was appropriate to use a technology that is vulnerable to earthquakes in a country that is prone to them. If the plant’s engineers had taken the risks more seriously, the meltdowns could have been avoided. Of course, it would have been difficult to give up the enormous benefits of nuclear energy, but there should have been a clear plan in place.
Examples from movies like Jurassic Park and real-life nuclear power plant accidents show that the misuse of technology is a fundamentally difficult problem to solve. Because humans are imperfect, we cannot operate technology 100% safely. When technology is used for personal gain and convenience, humans are more likely to distort or misuse it to suit their own ends. This problem may be impossible to solve, but it’s not impossible to prepare for it.
Everyone who develops and uses technology shouldn’t underestimate the small risks that technology poses, and should think about how those small risks can escalate and cause big damage. For example, the scene in the movie where a park employee tries to steal dinosaur eggs and is attacked by a dinosaur, causing the eggs to be buried in the dirt, symbolizes that no matter how great a technology is, there are some things that shouldn’t be revealed. Technologies with unresolved risks should be buried until the potential risks are resolved.
The development of science and technology means human progress, but we must constantly think and reflect on whether it brings true human happiness. To ensure that advances in science and technology have a positive impact on people, nature, and society, we need to be prepared for their responsible use and safety. In order to develop and advance new technologies, we must not only pursue human benefits, but also fully consider the potential risks and negative impacts that they may bring.