Submitted by FunetikPrugresiv t3_ybsznb in books
Most you have either watched the movie or read the book, but briefly, the character of Ian Malcolm is a mathematician specializing in a branch of mathematics called "Chaos Theory," which analyzes the impact of uncertainties and randomness on deterministic models. In the book he seems to be used as Crichton's mouthpiece, criticizing the arrogance of those that believe they can harness and control nature because of its inherent unpredictability.
In monologue after monologue after monologue.
Now, I want to state at this moment that Jurassic Park is otherwise a very enjoyable read - it's a hell of an idea for a story and even though the characters are fairly one-dimensional, Crichton paces it well and I had a hard time putting it down (even though I read it already, albeit almost 30 years ago).
Ian Malcolm, though... hoo boy. He's a one-dimensional mouthpiece for Crichton, who spends pages ranting through Malcolm about scientists' conceit. I get it - mankind's hubris makes for a great theme, and concerns about genetic technology are an interesting theme to mine.
The thing is, though, Crichton undermines his own argument. That argument basically boils down to "scientists are young and lack the experience and wisdom that decades of scratching and clawing to the top brings with it in other careers." But then what does Crichton go do? He makes 76-year-old John Hammond the primary antagonist - a guy that spent his life clawing his way to the top but, like a petulant child, refuses to listen to every else around him. The primary scientist (Henry Wu), suggests they "start over" with the dinosaurs before the park opens so that they can make changes and improvements, but Hammond refuses to listen because "it's what people expect to see."
So despite Malcolm's bloviating, the real villain in the film is not science, but capitalism. The scientist wanted to slow it down. The businessman wanted to speed it up, damn the risks. Thus, it's not scientists' hubris - who just want to study things - but the greed of the park owners and creators that need to turn a profit and do it quickly without concern for the ramifications.
The rest of the book is pretty rad, but I had to get that off my chest. Fuck Ian Malcolm.