The Chaos Theory In Jurassic Park Essay

, Research Paper

Jurassic Park was a revolutionary, genetic concept of cloning extinct dinosaurs to use as show for people. In the novel Jurassic Park Michael Crichton uses the chaos theory and other examples of human error to show how a idea like Jurassic Park would not work. The one error that caused the park to fail indefinitely was the fact that Hammond and the other designers of the park didn’t think about the unpredictability of nature itself.

Jurassic Park was to be like a zoo. The difference though was that the owner, Hammond wanted the park to be more natural than a normal zoo would be. He wanted each guest to feel like they had stepped back in time and were surrounded by this jurassic era. The entire island is done with wildlife from the correct time frame. The only problem is that Hammond and the other creator of the island didn’t think bout the effects of introducing extinct plants and animals into today’s world. “If planting deadly ferns at poolside was any indication, then it was clear that the designers of Jurassic Park had not been as careful as they should have been.” (86) The designers never considered what they were planting or putting into the park. The tiny aspects that they failed to see contributed to the failure of the park as a whole.

Just as important as the tiny details of the park that were overlooked, if not more important, was the technical failures associated with human stupidity. When the park was designed the humans controlling this obviously didn’t consider that there could be problems in the system. The park was thought be designed perfectly. The land was set up to control and maintain these animals while the computer system that ran the entire park was the “best” one ever. The designers were so cocky about the perfection of the computer system and the park layout that they completely overlooked the technical flaws that seemed to be completely obvious and on the surface. The motion sensors that were supposed to track all the animals in the park of course could only work if they were moving, and they didn’t cover the entire park.

“Ninety-two percent of the land area, I remember,” Malcolm said. “But if you put the remaining areas up on the board, I think you’ll find that the areas arecontiguous. In essence, an animal can move freely anywhere in the park and escape detection, by following a maintenance road or the jungle river or the beaches or whatever.” 277

They clearly thought that the animals would be stupid and didn’t think about how this flaw in the system could possible affect the park.

The most serious flaw in the park, was how Hammond and the other designers didn’t even consider the unpredictability of nature and of life itself. Arnold tries to explain that Malcolm’s chaos theory and the Malcolm effect wouldn’t apply to the park because it was a life system and not a model on a computer. The very thing he was arguing to contradict the chaos theory is evidence to support it. The fact that Jurassic Park was a life system would automatically apply the chaos theory. The breeding of the dinosaurs is an example of how Hammond overlooked what nature really was. Dr. Wu believed he had manipulated the DNA of the dinosaurs enough to the point that they couldn’t breed at all. The one thing he didn’t think about was that nature always finds a way. When using the frog DNA in the dinosaurs he inserted the ability to change sexes, as frogs can do, to breed. They also tried to control and contain the animals, while still saying that it was their natural environments. It wasn’t till towards the end of the park when chaos had broken out that the true natural state of the animals emerged. “‘ The fences have been down for hours,’ Grant said. ‘The animals are mingling with each other. Populations reaching equilibrium- a true Jurassic equilibrium’” (370). Nature could not be harnessed and finally led the park to the natural state of equilibrium. Nature is so unpredictable and there was no way for Hammond to set up a park without taking that in to account. The overlooked, and basically ignored fact of what nature was, was the true and most contributing factor to the failure of Jurassic Park.

Jurassic Park was doomed to fail from the beginning. The errors that were committed by Hammond and the other designers caused the park to fail. The tiny details of the park contributed along with technical errors, but the most influential contributing factor was that Hammond overlooked the unpredictability of nature itself. The influence that nature would have on the island was not thought about during the design or the maintenance of the park. While this was overlooked by employees of the park, nature was taking its own course and pushing the park to fail.