Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Jurassic Park, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Chaos, Change, and Control
Sight and Insight
Flawed Human Nature
Technology
Summary
Analysis
The introduction begins with a survey of the late 20th century’s biotech “scientific gold rush,” which promises to change everything about the human experience. This scientific revolution differs from previous ones in three ways: hundreds of companies and thousands of labs work independently from each other, with no overarching goal; it looks for thoughtless and frivolous discoveries; and it is underregulated, if not functionally “uncontrolled.”
The book begins with an introduction considering the nature of rapid technological change in the late 20th century. Concerns over the rapid change and insufficient oversight of modern scientific research establish the need for regulation and oversight by disinterested groups to prevent unnecessary or immoral use.
Themes
In the past, scientists tended to ignore national boundaries, avoid secrecy in research, and disdain monetary incentives. They frequently avoided patenting important discoveries, feeling that their research was for the benefit of humankind. That included the work of James Watson and Francis Crick, who figured out the structure of DNA in the 1950s. But in the 1970s, the foundation of Genentech began a new wave of commercialized science. Within a decade, molecular biologists and geneticists had fled from the universities to better-paying positions at biotech firms. Now they do research “in secret, in haste, and for profit.”
The book criticizes the changes privatization brought to the scientific community. Monetary incentives—in other words, greed—have made scientists less cooperative and more secretive. And without oversight and regulation, mistakes and oversteps increase in frequency and danger. As a work of speculative fiction, Jurassic Park blends its fictitious events with real developments by naming Genentech—a real-world American biotech research firm.
Themes
These circumstances precipitate the rise of the extremely ambitious International Genetic Technologies company—and its swift, devastating downfall. Few people pay attention when InGen declares bankruptcy in October of 1989—the third biotech firm of the year to do so. The hearings happened behind closed doors, and most of the parties signed nondisclosure agreements that prevent comment. But a few people can speak freely enough to recreate the events of August 1989 on a remote island off the coast of Costa Rica.
Initially, the introduction feels like the author’s commentary on the trends that inspired the novel. It’s only at the end that readers realize that it blends fact with fiction to make us feel urgency about the issues at stake: unregulated, potentially dangerous scientific research and technological development and the human flaws (like greed and pride) that can undermine human progress.
Themes
