So I'm watching "Jurassic Park 3" right now, and I'm wondering (as if I haven't wondered this before) about the possibility of recreating dinosaurs. First off, in "Jurassic Park 3," Dr. Alan Grant contends that recreating dinosaurs is "how you play God." I won't bother with that question, even though it is a legitimate one, because that's none of my concern. I think it would be incredibly awesome if we could do something like what the scientists in the Jurassic Park movies do, if it weren't for the fact that it would probably kill us in the end. Knowing this, would the government allow something like this to happen? Would they allow scientists to recreate dinosaurs or to create a dinosaur-like creature? Because we're human, I think so, no matter how many warnings they would get about it being a bad idea.
Anyway, the way they recreate dinosaurs in Jurassic Park is they dig up mosquitos in fossilized tree sap (amber.) Since mosquitos from as long ago as the dirt they're digging in fed on dinosaurs, the scientists were able to extract "Dino DNA" from the mosquitos' bodies. Then, just like in animals, they cloned the dinosaurs by using their DNA and turning it into dinosaur eggs, which hatched into real, live dinosaurs. This is not possible, because DNA from that long ago will have already been rendered dead and, therefore, unable to be used for cloning. DNA lasts a long time, but not that long.
So, if this isn't even possible, not even in theory, then what is the point of discussing it? Well, our technology has been getting better and better as the years go by, and I'm wondering if maybe someday we will figure out how to successfully recreate dinosaurs, or maybe create a species like them. That would be interesting, especially for studies. Ok, so we won't rule this out as being an eventual possibility.
So, now I want to raise another question: If we did this in the future, would the human race eventually be wiped out? Now, of course, we could create a new species that we could control more than dinosaurs, but if we recreated dinosaurs or created a species just like dinosaurs, then would we eventually be wiped out? This is definitely suggested in the Jurassic Park movies. See, the scientists in the movie create female dinosaurs ONLY, so that they could control how many dinosaurs were made. But Dr. Ian Malcolm, in the first Jurassic Park movie, contends that "life finds a way." And he was right. See, when the scientists in the first movie used dinosaur DNA to clone the new dinosaurs, they had to "fill in the blanks" with some frog DNA. Some African frogs can change gender in a same-sex environment, so as to always be able to procreate - one of the finer designs by God or the universe or what-have-you. So since the dinosaurs in the movie have bits and pieces of DNA from these frogs, the dinosaurs in the movie are able to change gender and procreate, thus allowing them to potentially take over. I guess the scientists in the movie didn't think this all the way through.
Anyway, my point is, even if we someday recreate dinosaurs, life truly does find a way. So even if we try to control how many dinosaurs are recreated, or if we try to control anything else in the matter, I should think the dinosaurs would prosper and find a way to survive. Also, there's a reason we don't live in the same time as the dinosaurs, which is very arguably a reason NOT to recreate dinosaurs. They were the top of the food, as we are now, but seriously, they were giant and smart and strong and incredible. So could we possibly survive while they're around? Probably not. I wouldn't think so, at least. I mean, they always say humans are on top of the food chain simply because we are the smartest, not because we're the strongest of all the animals. And we are smarter than dinosaurs were, so arguably we would dominate them. However, I believe what the writers of the Jurassic Park movies argued in the movies: that we would eventually be overtaken by the dinosaurs. But that's just my opinion.
Could we control the dinosaurs? Could we keep them from breeding? Could we keep them on one or a few isolated places, such as islands or cages? (There are 2 islands inhabited by dinosaurs in the Jurassic Park movies.) Well, as I explained before, life has a way of figuring things out and prospering. So the dinosaurs would probably find some way to procreate. Either that, or they'd die out just as quickly as they were recreated. And if we kept controlling them and only recreating the dinosaurs we wanted, and it worked out, then I guess that would be great. Hm...Keeping them contained to one or a few isolated places, such as islands...That's a tough one. I would say it might be possible to contain them to one or a few islands. The writers of the Jurassic Park movies only alluded to one dinosaur leaving the islands in the movie and traveling somewhere else to procreate, and that was a flying dinosaur. Cages... You never know what kind dinosaurs would be recreated. The small ones would be easily containable. We probably wouldn't be able to recreate water dinosaurs or flying dinosaurs, unless we successfully kept them in their tanks and cages at all times. That would be a huge risk, though, in case they ever escaped. And, remember, dinosaurs were smart. Raptors, for instance, were able to call for help, set traps, and hunt in a very successful and tricky way. (They hunted in packs. One raptor would stand in front of its prey, making the prey focus on it, and then two raptors would surround the prey from either side, and the prey had no idea those two raptors were even there. And that's when the attack would come.) Pretty smart, huh? Well, if we recreated dinosaurs, I'd say we should only recreate the small, less harmful ones, excluding any water or flying dinosaurs. However, I have been talking this whole time about how life finds a way. There may be a chance that other dinosaurs will be created/recreated if we only recreate the small, harmless ones. And these new dinosaurs could be the big, extremely dangerous, flying, water dinosaurs. And then, if we had water dinosaurs, they would likely swim to other places, and we'd have a water dinosaur problem all over the place. Instead of being afraid of shark attacks, we'd be afraid of liopleurodon attacks. If you don't know what that is, google image it. They were pretty furocious-looking. They got up to about 82 feet long and could have possibly even weighed up to 150 tons. And yes, it was a carnivore, so it might eat you. Even if it weren't a carnivore, it would still not be something you'd want to be caught in the ocean with, because of its sheer size alone. Anyway, it's the same with the flying dinosaurs. If we had flying dinosaurs, we might worry about dying via Pterodactyl or Pteranodon. (Pteranodons were herbivores, but they were huge, so they'd still be a threat.)
If we were to recreate dinosaurs, and we were destroyed, would the dinosaurs rule the earth for the rest of eternity? The dinosaurs died out for a reason. If you're not strong enough, you die out eventually. It's why I believe humans will eventually die out, because we'll destroy ourselves. Well, the dinosaurs weren't strong enough, so they eventually died out, so I think they might rule the earth for a long time if this instance were to occur, but I think they'd die out again someday.
Either way, nothing would be the same again. I'm sure a lot of the animals we have today would become extinct, either with the dinosaurs, or because of the dinosaurs. Think about it. Sharks, rodents, and insects pretty much covered the animals that survived throughout the age of the dinosaurs and PAST the age of the dinosaurs. I think, if we recreated dinosaurs, we would be re-starting everthing over again. Who knows? Maybe the dinosaurs would rule the earth, then they would die, then humans would come about again and be on top all over again.
I'm going to spin this in a totally different direction now. Those of you who know me or have read my notes should have seen this coming. Would containing dinosaurs to cages and tanks be permissable by law? Probably. Would it be abusive and wrong? Absolutely. Would studying on dinosaurs be just as bad as studying on animals? Yes. Would it be permissable by law? Probably. As interesting as it would be to find out all we can about the dinosaurs we recreated, if we were to do so, it would be wrong to test on them and keep them locked up. At least, that's where I stand on the issue.
That brings me to another question. Could the small, "nice" dinosaurs be sold as pets? Could some of the dinosaurs be sold to farms, for the purpose of meat production for human consumption? Could they be kept in zoos? Could we pay to see them? Or would they only be used for governmental/scientific purposes?
I'm going to switch this into a more scientific question now, rather than a political question. The earth has to have certain elements and be at a certain temperature and have absolutely everything fall into the proper place in order for a species to start, grow, and thrive on a planet. So what made the earth perfect for the beginning, growth, and thriving of dinosaurs when they came about? When they died out, why didn't more dinosaurs come about? What made the earth so perfect for humans to come around, rather than dinosaurs or something else? Or why didn't more than one major species come around at the same time? Obviously, at some point, one would dominate, and the other would either die out or become suppressed. It just seems that there can only be one dominant species, and that makes sense. But the point is, why was the earth ready for dinosaurs when they came around? And then why was the earth ready for humans when they came around? Was there a difference in the earth's temperature after the earth had been hit by that meteor, turned into turmoil, and then cooled and renewed? Was there a difference in the way things were on earth when the dinosaurs were around versus when humans came about? It's just weird to me.
Ok, let's go back to "Jurassic Park." Let me just throw something out there that really made me question the credibility of the "fun facts" in the movies. In the last movie, a new dinosaur is introduced: the spinosaurus. It is portrayed as being larger than the t-rex. Let me just clear this up for you guys. The t-rex was, indeed, the largest carnivorous dinosaur that ever lived...that we know of. Spinosaurus was longer than t-rex, but the average t-rex weighed more than the average spinosaurus. There are arguments over this, however. We haven't actually obtained a full spinosaurus skeleton yet, so no one actually knows for absolute sure, so some people will argue that spinosaurus was larger than t-rex. But I believe in the mighty t-rex, and I think he would kick spinosaurus's butt in a wrestling match.
In "Jurassic Park," scientists were able to extract "Dino DNA"
from mosquitos stuck in fossilized tree sap (amber,)and therefore, were
able to clone dinosaurs.
Didn't I just mention something about these two wrestling? I swear
I found this photo afterwards. I think there's a bit of a problem with
the sizing of the dinosaurs here, but still, the photo is funny.
Go, T-Rex. My bets are on you.
I didn't discuss this in my note, but it's interesting.
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