## Jurassic Park (1993) **Directed by Steven Spielberg | Based on the novel by Michael Crichton** A billionaire entrepreneur named John Hammond has a dream: use cutting-edge genetic engineering to bring dinosaurs back from extinction, and put them in a theme park. He assembles a team of scientists to tour the park before it opens, hoping they will give it their stamp of approval. They do not. The park's security systems fail, the dinosaurs escape, and the whole venture descends into chaos, tooth, and claw. At its heart, Jurassic Park is a celebration of the awe-inspiring majesty of the natural world, but it is also a pointed story about greed, ambition, and the folly of assuming you can control what you have created. ### Spoiler Alert This page discusses key plot points and themes from Jurassic Park. If you have not seen the film, consider watching it first. But honestly, the technologies and ideas it opens up are worth exploring either way, and knowing what happens will make the film richer, not poorer, when you do see it. ### What This Chapter Explores Jurassic Park is the book's opening film for good reason. It launches directly into one of the most profound capabilities emerging in modern science: our growing ability to read, write, and rewrite the genetic code that underpins all life on Earth. The film takes this idea to its most dramatic extreme by imagining scientists extracting dinosaur DNA from mosquitoes preserved in amber and using it to recreate creatures that have been extinct for millions of years. The science in the film is, of course, wildly implausible. DNA degrades over time, and the chances of recovering a usable dinosaur genome from a fossilized mosquito are essentially zero. But that misses the point entirely. What Jurassic Park captures brilliantly is the intoxicating combination of scientific ambition and entrepreneurial hubris, and the way that powerful technologies can spiral out of control when the people wielding them do not stop to think about consequences. The chapter uses the film to explore the real and rapidly advancing field of de-extinction, where scientists are genuinely working on bringing back lost species using techniques like gene editing. It also digs into genetic engineering more broadly, including the revolutionary gene-editing tool CRISPR, which has given scientists an unprecedented ability to precisely modify the genetic code of living organisms. These are not science fiction; they are technologies that are being developed and used right now, and they raise exactly the kind of questions that Jurassic Park dramatizes so effectively. Ian Malcolm, the film's charismatic mathematician, articulates the core tension with characteristic bluntness: the scientists were so preoccupied with whether they could bring dinosaurs back that they never stopped to ask whether they should. This question, the gap between capability and responsibility, runs through every chapter of the book. But it starts here, with the intoxicating and dangerous assumption that innovation is always good, that progress is always forward, and that the people in charge know what they are doing. The chapter also uses Jurassic Park to introduce the idea of complex systems and chaos theory. Hammond's park fails not because of one catastrophic error, but because the system as a whole is too complex to predict or control. Small failures cascade into large ones. Assumptions that seemed reasonable turn out to be wrong. The lesson is not that we should never attempt ambitious things, but that we need to approach powerful technologies with humility, recognizing that our ability to predict consequences is always going to be limited. ### Key Technologies - [Genetic engineering and gene editing](est_genetic_engineering.html) — The ability to read, write, and rewrite the DNA code that underpins all life - [De-extinction and resurrection biology](est_de_extinction.html) — Using genetic technologies to bring back lost species - [Complex systems and chaos theory](est_complex_systems.html) — Why the behavior of complex systems cannot be fully predicted or controlled ### Ethical and Responsibility Themes - [Could we? Should we?](rei_could_we_should_we.html) — The gap between having the ability to do something and having the wisdom to know whether you should - [Permissionless innovation and technological hubris](rei_permissionless_innovation.html) — What happens when innovators assume they know best and charge ahead without asking others - [Corporate responsibility and the profit motive](rei_corporate_responsibility.html) — When the drive for profit overrides caution and care ### Navigating the Future - [Complexity, chaos, and unintended consequences](ntf_complexity_chaos.html) — Why powerful technologies in complex systems produce outcomes nobody anticipated ### Discussion Questions * Is using genetic engineering to bring extinct species back a good idea? * Should scientists be allowed to experiment with altering the genetic code of humans? * Can experts ever completely predict the consequences of a new technology? * Who should decide what scientists can and cannot do? * Are rich entrepreneurs with grandiose ideas good for society? * What is the difference between a safety measure and a genuine understanding of what could go wrong? * If a technology has already been developed and deployed, is it ever too late to change course? * How should we think about the power dynamics between the people who fund research and the scientists who carry it out? ### Continue Exploring Jurassic Park opens the book's exploration of biotechnology, a thread that continues through [Never Let Me Go](movies_never_let_me_go.html) (cloning), [Inferno](movies_inferno.html) (synthetic biology and engineered pathogens), and [Elysium](movies_elysium.html) (bioprinting). To explore how the gap between "could we?" and "should we?" plays out across all twelve films, see [Could We? Should We?](rei_could_we_should_we.html). ## Further Reading - [Jurassic Park — Moviegoer's Guide to the Future (Future of Being Human)](https://www.futureofbeinghuman.com/p/jurassic-park-moviegoers-guide-to-the-future) — Andrew Maynard explores the real science and ethics behind Jurassic Park in this podcast episode from the Future of Being Human Substack. The discussion covers genetic engineering, de-extinction, and the gap between scientific ambition and responsibility that the film dramatizes so effectively. - [Jurassic Park Dominion's Social Commentary (Future of Being Human)](https://www.futureofbeinghuman.com/p/jurassic-park-dominion-may-fall-short-on-the-science-but-its-social-commentary-is-worth-heeding-fc48c9344e7d) — This companion piece examines the Jurassic World franchise's evolving commentary on how society handles powerful biotechnologies. It connects the original film's warnings about hubris to contemporary debates around gene editing and corporate control of biological innovation. - [Jurassic Park on IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107290/) — The complete film page for Steven Spielberg's 1993 blockbuster, including cast, crew, and production details. A useful reference for the film that launched one of cinema's most enduring franchises and brought genetic engineering into mainstream conversation. - [CRISPR Gene Editing: A Decade of Discovery (Nature)](https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-00790-1) — Nature's coverage of CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technology provides essential context for understanding the real science behind Jurassic Park's premise. The gene-editing revolution has made precise DNA modification faster, cheaper, and more accessible than ever before, raising exactly the ethical questions the film anticipated.