Jurassic Park

Although I've seen the movie Jurassic Park multiple times, I've never really thought about it much. In the past, I've always just watched the movie casually, jumping when the dinosaurs pop up and laughing at the characters' jokes. This time, however, I paid much closer attention to the actual content of the movie. In addition to the "sciency stuff," I also took notes on the overlying theme of the movie. I think it really all comes down to the basic ideas of over-reliance on technology and the potential consequences of messing with nature. Because I don't plan on genetically engineering any extinct species anytime soon, the theme of technology overuse is more terrifying to me as a potential real-world problem.

The theme of over-reliance on technology develops as a result of the way Jurassic Park was designed. Complex interconnected computer systems control and operate every aspect of the island. Dinosaur eggs are turned by a robot, doors only lock when commanded on a computer, and even the tour cars are driven by a computer! The consequences of this excessive technology use are revealed when the systems fail and all hell breaks loose in the park. Dinosaurs break through fences, locks fail, and people die, all because the computers don't work right. This is a pretty significant consequence. It makes me worry about how much we rely on computers for nearly everything in our lives today. Although we aren't likely to get eaten by dinosaurs as a result, computer failures can still lead to dire consequences in our world today. One example of this is pilots' addiction to autopilot. According to a story aired last month on ABC news, pilots only spend around three minutes actually flying commercial airplanes. For the rest of the flight, autopilot takes over. There is growing concern over whether this reliance is weakening pilots' abilities to fly manually. When autopilot fails, pilots must take over, sometimes with dire consequences. In 60% of "loss of control accidents," pilots had difficulties manually flying the plane and often screwed up flight controls, leading to the deaths of hundreds of passengers in the last decade. The Federal Aviation Administration blames these mistakes on pilots' reliance on autopilot and are now encouraging airlines to allow pilots to physically control the plane more often during flight so they are prepared when disaster strikes and the computers fail.

Dolak, K. (Producer). (2011). 'Automation addiction': Are pilots forgetting how to fly?. [Web Video]. Retrieved from http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/automation-addiction-pilots-forgetting-fly/story?id=14417730