Jurassic Park by Micahel Chrichton

881 Words2 Pages

Jurassic Park was an amusement park created by InGen, a company founded by Hammond, to recreate dinosaurs and use them as attractions for the public. Hammond wanted the park to be run by a small staff in order to save money and increase the efficiency. To make this work, he designed almost all of the park to be controlled by a supercomputer that would work all the park’s functions. The computer, however, had several bugs which led to the disastrous result of letting the dinosaurs loose. This novel was written during the information age when the world was becoming interested in using computers and other technological devices and advancements. Michael Crichton wrote his novel Jurassic Park as a response to the information age of the 1980s.

Like Crichton’s novel, the 1980s was amidst a world of advanced technology. Genetic engineering had a growth in technological advancements. Hammond discovered a way to clone dinosaurs from extracting DNA from fossilized mosquitoes. Since the 1980s, genetic engineering has been used to produce everything from a more environmentally friendly lithium-ion battery to infection-resistant crops (Melina). Similar to what discoveries were made in the 1980s, Hammond was able to make a great discovery on how to bring extinct creatures back into the world. Both of these discoveries were part of the numerous technological advancements during the time period of the 1980s, whether it was to entertain or to improve the environment. In addition, supercomputers were used for advanced science applications that were too complicated for the human brain. Dr. Wu, the park’s chief geneticist, used a supercomputer to replicate the dinosaur DNA. The first Cray-1™ system was installed at Los Alamos National Laborat...

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...e no possibility of malfunctioning. This danger, from the overreliance of technology, was what Michael Crichton was conveying and cautioning about in Jurassic Park.

In the novel Jurassic Park, Michael Crichton responded to the 1980s and gave a warning to a society that is increasingly becoming reliant on technology. The information era was bombarded with technological advancements. Jurassic Park was run mostly by technology, but failed to work within a 24-hour period. Society should be more aware of the disastrous consequences of technology and decrease the reliance of it. Changes should be made to decrease this dependence, even though it will be difficult. Little things such as reducing the time spent on using communication devices or making a room technology-free can contribute to the society if everyone works together to calm the rapid growth of technology.

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