Sometimes a movie gives us a glimpse into the future.
Is the Jurassic Park series one of those movies?
According to Neuralink cofounder Max Hodak, the answer is yes.
Hodak, who calls himself a “reality engineer” in his Twitter bio, used the platform to express his interest in creating a Jurassic Park.
Here is what Hodak said: “we could probably build jurassic park if we wanted to. wouldn’t be genetically authentic dinosaurs but [emoji shrug]. maybe 15 years of breeding + engineering to get super exotic novel species.”
Hodak followed up later on Twitter talking about “de-extinction.”
But it’s not all fun and games when you’re playing god and creating new dinosaurs. Hokdak later added that de-extinction could be a valuable tool for increasing biodiversity, perhaps because we find ourselves in the midst of an era of mass extinction.
“Biodiversity (antifragility) is definitely valuable; conservation is important and makes sense,” Hodak tweeted minutes later. “But why do we stop there? Why don’t we more intentionally try to generate novel diversity?”
For years, conservationists have expressed concerns over resurrecting extinct species – a process called de-extinction – in part because the ecosystems those species lived in, for one reason or another, moved on without them. To that end, resurrecting species – and especially creating brand new forms of biodiversity – would functionally be the same as introducing a new invasive species to an ecosystem no longer equipped to support it.
The Byte
We may want to keep this idea as fiction, or else our planet could end up with some serious – and scary – environmental problems.
And we don’t want to become someone’s lunch, either.
Many of the commenters in Hodak’s tweet also expressed reservations about this while idea of making a real life Jurassic Park:
What do you think about this idea? If technology is capable, should a Jurassic Park be built? Share your thoughts in the comments.
