Ethical Issues In Jurassic Park

The film, Jurassic Park, did a decent job of bringing the idea of cloning dinosaurs into popular culture but it also contained a cautionary message: when placed in the wrong hands, unchecked scientific experimentation can wreak havoc.
In the present world of evolving science, the moral and ethical factors are being weighed more heavily in one’s quest for scientific discovery. This science fiction film displays these factors and the ramifications of one’s actions. I also believe the movie was intended to warn the general public of the inherent dangers of both science and technology and scientists are most likely refrain from asking ethical questions concerning their work in the interest of the pursuit of science.
The film raises ethical issues involving the cloning and raising of dinosaurs through the use of modern scientific
technology. John Hammond (the founder of Jurassic Park) was able to retrieve prehistoric DNA from fossilized mosquitoes which then is used to start breeding dinosaurs. Although the technology is still an impossibility, even at today’s standards, the role of technology is the foundation and backbone of the film and it paints a picture of our current scientific realities.
One of the ethical and moral dilemmas, raised by technology in the film, was the issue of ambition of human discovery versus the laws of nature and its natural selection.
The question that needed to be answered was “although DNA cloning is viable, is it acceptable?” These issues are represented by the characters, John Hammond and Dr. Malcolm. John Hammond is seen as one who pushes the boundaries of science to its limits and shows lack of respect for nature and as a result, he was mostly preoccupied with whether or not he could, instead of if he should tinker with nature. The character, Dr. Malcolm on the other hand is a chaotician and believes that nature is complex and unstable and stepping beyond scientific boundaries would only result in chaos. Chaos theory simply states that small changes in initial conditions can have a great effect on a systems future. He directly attacks the scientific establishment by stating that these scientists have behaved irrationally and irresponsible. These two characters represent man’s struggle in finding a balance between the two ideals. As shown through the film, man must not play with
nature. Also found in the film are suggestions that John Hammond is not concerned with scientific integrity but more of profit. The Jurassic park logo can be seen throughout the theme park; painted on vehicles and found on employee uniforms. I believe that Hammond acted more as a businessman than a scientist. Another character to be noted on the film is Dennis Nerdy who represents technology, who started the chaos that Dr. Malcolm insisted will happen. The film presented a mixture of scientists in the park. The two main characters that helped Dr. Hammond assess his park in exchange for funding. There also was Dr. Hammond who was mostly driven by profit. It also depicted present day scientists as a group of researchers rather than a single individual.
The most important aspect of the film to me is the effect one’s ethical decision has on one’s fate. The film challenged the traditional belief that the power of nature should never be compromised. The argument about between Malcolm and Hammond is fundamentally a struggle between science and ethics. In the end, John Hammond finds himself at the mercy of the very technology he had taken for granted.