When I was 10, I saw Jurassic Park for the first time. I remember being in awe of the spectacular special effects, bringing these prehistoric monsters to life in front of my eyes.
Watching the film now with my own children, I think about the real monsters that we’ve made over the years. Monsters like social media and most recently AI, which are built to connect us, entertain us and simplify our lives, but which so often break out of their cages and feast on social cohesion and our individual mental health.
We may never be able to foresee the full consequences of technological progress, but I am often reminded of Jeff Goldblum’s line from Jurassic Park:
“Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, that they didn’t stop to think if they should.”
The lights begin to dim
The film’s about to start
I’ve waited for so long
And hope with all my heart
That this will be as good
As the Michael Crichton classic
That the almighty beasts
Both Cretaceous and Jurassic
Will seem as real to me
As the monsters in my mind
And that I’ll feel that fear
See those teeth that nash and grind
Be left in raptures by the Raptors
As they learn to open doors
And make mincemeat of their captors
With their retractable claws
I can’t wait for Dr Malcolm
I can’t wait for Dr Grant
I can’t wait for Ellie Sattler
I can’t wait, I really can’t
And as the film begins
And I hear John Williams’ score
My ten year old self
Learns what the cinema is for
To transport me away
To help me face my fears
To open up my heart
To fill my eyes with tears
To open up the world
To see what people do
The way we create monsters
In the search for something new
And the words of Ian Malcolm
Grow wiser by the year
As the world begins to suffocate
Beneath all of our ideas
Our tools of exploitation
The monsters we create
Invention dragging us towards
Our own self-harming fate
We still haven’t made dinosaurs
But thirty years later
The world is Isla Nublar
And our monsters are much greater
I guess that in the end
It all comes down to this
We turned the other way
Our ignorance was bliss
We were all so preoccupied
With whether or not we could
We didn’t stop to think about
Whether or not we should
Now listen to Richard read his poem:
