“Your
scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they
didn’t stop to think if they should.” This is one of the most famous
lines from the blockbuster movie Jurassic Park.
It’s spoken by Dr. Ian Malcolm, played brilliantly by Jeff Goldblum.
It’s the final line of a remarkable little speech Dr. Malcom makes to
billionaire John Hammond, the creator of the dinosaur park. “The lack of
humility before nature here staggers me,” Dr. Malcolm first tells
Hammond, after hearing of his grandiose plans. “I’ll tell you the
problem with the scientific power that you’re using here. It didn’t
require any discipline to attain it.”
It might seem a bit flippant to begin a column on perhaps the most serious of Pope Paul VI’s four prophesies in the encyclical Humanae Vitae – the totalitarian imposition of birth control by governments – with a reference to Jurassic Park.
And yet, Dr. Malcolm’s speech is packed with truth; rarely, indeed, has
a Hollywood movie contained a more succinct and relevant indictment of
some of the worst tendencies of our time.
Human
beings have understandably become wholly enamoured of their technical
prowess these past two centuries. We have conquered nature in ways that
previous generations could not have even imagined was possible. And yet
as humans have pivoted away from the ancient preoccupation with
attaining wisdom in
favor of the modern preoccupation with perfecting technique, we have
increasingly run the risk of single-mindedly pursuing . . .
