Elon Musk's Neuralink Wildly Claims It Could Produce Jurassic Park-Style Dinosaurs By 2036
I hope to be alive in 15 years, and barring a catastrophe or some kind of ailment, there is a good chance I will be. However, I just hope wherever I'm living in a decade in a half is not overrun by dinosaurs who see me as a tasty snack. Crazy, right? Not to Max Hodak, co-founder of Elon Musk's Neuralink, who believes the technology exists to build a real life Jurassic Park.
In case you're not familiar with the immensely popular movie franchise, Jurassic Park is a series of films that first came out in 1993, based on the novel by Michael Crichton. Rich folk with more money than sense build a theme park with genetically cloned dinosaurs of all types, including the mighty T-Rex, and those pesky raptors. Predictably, all hell breaks loose.
There have been four other releases since then, plus another planned for next year, and none of them are simple walks in the park. The common theme, however, is the creation of dinosaurs, and Hodak says it is probably possible to do that in real life.
"We could probably build Jurassic Park if we wanted to. Wouldn't be genetically authentic, but maybe 15 years of breeding plus engineering to get super exotic novel species," Hodak wrote on Twitter.
Is it really, though? Hodak did not go into specifics about what technological advancements at Neuralink's disposal (or outside of Neuralink) would offer a path to creating genetically engineered dinosaurs. Founded five years ago, Neuralink is focused on brain control interface (BCI) technology that itself is straight out of science fiction. Or maybe that's just a cover for creating dinosaurs.
Neuralink has already done some wild things, after all, like implanting chips into the brains of pigs, and showcasing a monkey playing video games with its mind, thanks to a wireless implant in its skull. So maybe building an actual dinosaur theme park in 15 years it not so wild after all.
There would be significant hurdles, of course, and not just legal and ethical ones. Usable dinosaur DNA is not exactly plentiful (DNA decays over time, starting with death). I'd venture a guess a real-life Jurassic Park is not going to happen in my lifetime, and as much as I'm fascinated by dinosaurs, I'm totally fine with that.
