we could probably build a jure park if we wanted to. they wouldn’t be genetically authentic dinosaurs, but (shrug emoji). maybe 15 years of breeding + engineering to get super exotic new species
– Max Hodak (@max_hodak) April 4, 2021
Although not directly related, Hodak seems to be particularly interested in conserving biodiversity on Earth, if not all together, creating even more new diversity. He tweetao On April 4, saying, “biodiversity is definitely valuable” and “conservation is important and makes sense.” Then he asked, “but why do we stop there?” followed by, “why don’t we more deliberately try to create a new diversity?”
Biodiversity here refers to the diversity of life on Earth, ranging from variations that are microscopic like genes, to things that are as large as entire ecosystems. Dinosaurs would certainly be a form of “new diversity,” but Hodak may forget how the whole Jurassic Park thing went, not to mention how the sequels unfolded.
Neuralink is a company founded by Musk, Hodak and others in 2016, and as the name suggests, the company is focused on creating implantable brain-machine interfaces. In February, Musk talked on the social app Clubhouse about how Neuralink, “has a monkey with a wireless implant in its skull with tiny wires.” The monkey is part of an experiment in which Neuralink hopes to get a cyborg to play “mind pong” with another monkey cyborg.
The Neuralink device used in the test consists of more than 3,000 electrodes that can monitor 1,000 different neurons. As IGN reported back in February, Musk addressed concerns about animal welfare in Neuralink trials. The billionaire said, “you can’t see where the implant is, and he’s a happy monkey,” and claimed the U.S. Department of Agriculture inspector said the company’s lab was “the most beautiful monkey” they examined.To be clear, Hodak did not say he planned to create a real Jurassic Park – he seemed to be referring to the technology his company or people in general have in terms of the possibility of creating genetically modified dinosaur species.
For more information on creating dinosaurs, check out this story about how scientists who extract DNA from insects preserved in resin (sounds familiar?) Have no intention of breeding dinosaurs. Read this story about a new species of dinosaur discovered recently in Patagonia called “the one that causes fear” afterwards, and then take a look at this story about T-Rex and Triceratops locked in the same fossil.
Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer, guide maker and science guru for IGN. He loves dinosaurs, but he doesn’t need them to be alive again and is perfectly fine with driving Jurassic Park to Universal Studios to fix his dinosaurs. You can follow him further Twitter @LeBlancWes.