Jurassic Park
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Packing of all our years in this household has gotten into full swing, starting on a larger scale since yesterday night. I packed up all the simple stuff, like the books and software, but as always, I now come to the odds and ends, the bits and bobs that I have no idea where and how to pack, or how to classify. Don't know about you, but these are the stupid knick-knacks I always find most irritating. It is especially so when you gradually trash some of your possessions into a bag, seeing how your material desires and plastic junk aren't going to decompose any time soon. Makes you reflect a wee bit on the junking up of every individual.
I just finished reading Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton, and awaiting my consumption is 'Carrie' and 'Four past midnight', both by Stephen King. Read quite a bit this month, I must say.
The book pointed out two main things to ponder about generally goes unnoticed, and if I had permission to
borrow some of his material, one says that acquiring power has become superficial. In the past, people would come to power with much determination and patience, facing many years of apprenticeship or training, before becoming himself a master of his field. The problem is that with modern science, people often build on the works of others. Because we can 'stand on the shoulders of giants' and thus pick off from where they left off, without having to go through the same painstaking progress, the power becomes more and more indiscriminately used.
As Crichton put it simply, a karate master spent years upon years of training to hone his skill. When he finally masters his art, the discipline he went through, and the number of years it took to hone it, humbles him and makes responsible in how he handles himself. He won't go around chopping the necks of those who simply irritate him. Conversely, if you hand power in the form of science to a layman, chances are, given the lack of time and discipline taken to reach that position of power, he or she will indiscriminately use it.
Another point is highlighted where
Crichton mentions that the very often used misconception is how scientists and commonfolk alike, tend to think their ways of life will pollute the Earth to a point where the Earth will eventually die. He points out that this misconception arises because we are too proud for our own good. That people are the ones who will die, not the Earth. The Earth has been present for millions and millions of years past, and it won't die out any time soon. Even if there was a nuclear wipeout of every single human, and in the process, devastation of the Earth's climate and environment, there will be organisms somewhere, maybe in the Arctic, that will eventually mutate and give rise to new species. The problem is that humans think that they are hurting the Earth, when they in fact, are hurting themselves.
While the book pointed out such really intriguing points as such, I felt that in this rare case, the movie was actually better than the book, as Crichton failed to bring certain events to my imagination...
posted by joseph at 7:17 PM