To be fair, he underbid for the initial work, and then Hammond kept changing what was needed because of stuff related to actually raising the dinosaurs.
Presumably, if Hammond had actually stated the requirements correctly, then Nedry would have bid higher.
But doing so would have revealed too much about the "biological preserve" he was trying to create. He wanted to keep it a surprise for the public, so secrecy and NDAs were key.
LOL! Nice catch!
but... seriously. If they paid Nedry the full value of the embroys, there'd be none left for them, right? Why, then, would they bother with the plan at all? There had to be value remaining for Biosyn to bother doing it.
That said - in the right hands - that tech was far more valuable! Hammond was growing the embryos into attractions and was forecasting (conservative estiamates) of "20 billion dollars a year," \[Bungalow, pg. 201\]. However, in the wrong hands, they're totally worthless. Recall, the embryos have a 0.4 % success rate of hatching into a dinosaur at Jurassic Park \[Tour, pg. 106\], which translates to:
0.4/100 or 4/1000 or 1/250 chance of success.
Literally, 99.6 % chance you're not hatching a dinosaur. And that's InGen's facilities with InGen's technologies in Jurassic Park's hatchery - and even then, 0.4% chance of success! Recall, in *The Lost World*, InGen was shown to be using entire (secret) manufacutring facilities on a separate island to crank out enough eggs to populate its park!
**For discussion:**
Biosyn was aware of *how* InGen was cloning dinosaurs, and the heist-scheme was to catch Biosyn up on five years of research and development. They *could* have invested five years developing this tech, but opted for espionage instead (by courting Nedry).
Do you think Biosyn (the business itself) actually cared about cloning dinosaurs - or do you think it was just Dodgson's pet project?
After >!the fall of InGen!<, rather than just developing the technology for themselves - Biosyn spied on Malcolm and Levine hoping that "abberant forms" would wash up on the shores of Costa Rican islands? Like, they were only a few years behind their main competitor in this field - >!and then that competitor went bankrupt !<- nothing was stopping Biosyn from just acquiring amber and fossils from nothern latitudes to assemble dinosaur DNA on their own.
From what it sounds like, by the second novel, Dodgson was in the doghouse with Biosyn, especially after losing all that cash invested in Nedry's suitcase. I'm surprised Dodgson was still employed!
Do you think Nedry carried that suitcase him to Isla Nublar, or left it behind in a locker at the Costa Rican airport?
Finally - had Dodgson known - InGen kept backups of all their embroys in cryostoratge at the Cupertino, CA head quarters. Dodgson would have only had to seduce a worker from HQ to snag those embroys, rather than going all the way to Isla Nublar!
Dodgson also had to call an emergency board meeting with a quorum to get those funds for Nedry approved! I bet the folks at Biosyn were piiiiiiiiissed.
Oh absolutely! I love how the fallout of it sets the backdrop for Dodgson in “The Lost World!” Out of curiosity, do you plan on rereading that as well?
I’ve actually…..never read that one 👀
My brand new copy is currently on my desk and I’m so excited to break it open on my lunch break
(I have no qualms about spoilers though, if that’s why you ask!)
Oh that’ll be exciting then! Be sure to share your thoughts on that, too! I’d love to know what you think of it (extremely different from the movie)! I was just curious as to whether you were rereading both books or just the first! :)
Also I just need to thank you for this comment! I just closed the book and finished my reread a few moments ago and I’m RABID to discuss awesome details like this. Thank you for making my night!
I definitely think BioSyn cared about the dinosaurs, but it seems like it was Dodgson’s pet project! I don’t doubt they at least wanted to see where InGen’s work was going but it seems like Dodgson was the passionate one driving the cause forward at breakneck speed!
I love how this is our intro to Dodgson as well-taking advantage of Nedry, while backstory about deadly testing on human subjects is shared. Really shows how in the micro and macro he is awful!
Book Dodgson scared the board by telling them Hammond's plan was to sell miniature dinosaur pets that could only eat proprietary InGen pet food. That's how he got approval for the embryo theft operation.
Ooo fair enough! It did seem to be something that they saw a threat in, though, even if they weren’t super enthusiastic about it!
I also love the callback to this where Hammond is like “Such a small idea, pets for kids?! I’m going beyond that!”
I've always enjoyed the imagery of Nedry doddling around like an overgrown teenager, toting a briefcase everywhere he goes like he's playing "grown ups." \[I double checked, it's briefcase, not suitcase - my bad!\] and everyone thinking: wtf is this kid doing?
Alas, there's no mention of his luggage.
New Series: Instead of Storage Wars it's .... Abandoned Airport Lockers! Come see what nobody came back for - bidding starts at $20.
True. I *intended* to suggest that Dodgson had directed Biosyn's efforts to procure embryos from ... Nublar, by recruiting Nedry. I can see how that may have been miscommunicated, especially in light of his subsequent efforts, indeed, in travelling to Sorna.
Dodgson wouldn't have had to direct his efforts to procuring embyros from Nublar, nor eggs from Sonra, had they just infiltrated InGen HQ in Cupertino : )
in fairness thats essentially what they are worth to ingen or anyone else in terms of developement cost. since boosyn is cutting a massive corner, they r saving money and it doesnt cost nedry anything so its still a ton of money for minimal effort. and it catches biosyn up on 10 years of research
Totally agreed! It’s just funny to me that Nedry is so starry-eyed about the 1.5mm offer when other characters know offhand that he should have/could have asked for more
Well Muldoon is from the zoo industry he probably knew how much something like that would cost ned was a computer person and probably never dealt with stuff like that we only know what we know plus in that time no internet really so a lot harder to know stuff unless your really in that field
And in an age when the number of people who knew computers was much less.
Like the novel came out in 1990, and was set in 1989, and started being written in 1983. Microsoft introduced Solitaire and Minesweeper in 1990 to help people to intuit mouse control (solitaire for drag and drop and minesweeper for precision clicking with both left and right click)
Sure, but what would his lifestyle be like for the rest of his life? He's got to become an international fugitive and give up his stable career with a team in Cambridge that he runs.
To be fair, what they’re “worth” to InGen (presumably in terms of how much it would cost to replace them etc.), what they’re “worth” to Biosyn (far far more than what they’re worth in inGen) and what Nedry would take for the job of stealing them are all different things.
Having said that…”Don’t get cheap on me Dodgson…”
Oh, absolutely! But the way Nedry is so proud of a number that didn't even hit Muldoon's bottom range gives me the same vibes as:
https://preview.redd.it/tp52bfy2k70d1.jpeg?width=1038&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=50ad1fc62d51f5696b0e50a6114e99d42d240b0b
I never caught that! Kees the theme that Nedry isn’t as smart as he thinks he is
I’m rereading for the first time in forever and it got an audible laugh out of me! Excellent character exploration even posthumously
The character exploration Nedry and Wu get in the novel is top notch!
Kinda reads like Nedry screwed himself, he's proud of that 1.5 bid.
Nedry loves to underbid and then complain
Thanks, Dad.
I don't blame people for their mistakes, but I do ask that they pay for them
To be fair, he underbid for the initial work, and then Hammond kept changing what was needed because of stuff related to actually raising the dinosaurs. Presumably, if Hammond had actually stated the requirements correctly, then Nedry would have bid higher.
But doing so would have revealed too much about the "biological preserve" he was trying to create. He wanted to keep it a surprise for the public, so secrecy and NDAs were key.
I think it shows that he is completely out of his depth - he may be the computer whizz but he is dealing with people on a whole other level.
Nedry probably had no clue what they were worth since they were meaningless to him. He probably thought he was ripping Dodgson off.
Yes that’s the poetic irony
LOL! Nice catch! but... seriously. If they paid Nedry the full value of the embroys, there'd be none left for them, right? Why, then, would they bother with the plan at all? There had to be value remaining for Biosyn to bother doing it. That said - in the right hands - that tech was far more valuable! Hammond was growing the embryos into attractions and was forecasting (conservative estiamates) of "20 billion dollars a year," \[Bungalow, pg. 201\]. However, in the wrong hands, they're totally worthless. Recall, the embryos have a 0.4 % success rate of hatching into a dinosaur at Jurassic Park \[Tour, pg. 106\], which translates to: 0.4/100 or 4/1000 or 1/250 chance of success. Literally, 99.6 % chance you're not hatching a dinosaur. And that's InGen's facilities with InGen's technologies in Jurassic Park's hatchery - and even then, 0.4% chance of success! Recall, in *The Lost World*, InGen was shown to be using entire (secret) manufacutring facilities on a separate island to crank out enough eggs to populate its park! **For discussion:** Biosyn was aware of *how* InGen was cloning dinosaurs, and the heist-scheme was to catch Biosyn up on five years of research and development. They *could* have invested five years developing this tech, but opted for espionage instead (by courting Nedry). Do you think Biosyn (the business itself) actually cared about cloning dinosaurs - or do you think it was just Dodgson's pet project? After >!the fall of InGen!<, rather than just developing the technology for themselves - Biosyn spied on Malcolm and Levine hoping that "abberant forms" would wash up on the shores of Costa Rican islands? Like, they were only a few years behind their main competitor in this field - >!and then that competitor went bankrupt !<- nothing was stopping Biosyn from just acquiring amber and fossils from nothern latitudes to assemble dinosaur DNA on their own. From what it sounds like, by the second novel, Dodgson was in the doghouse with Biosyn, especially after losing all that cash invested in Nedry's suitcase. I'm surprised Dodgson was still employed! Do you think Nedry carried that suitcase him to Isla Nublar, or left it behind in a locker at the Costa Rican airport? Finally - had Dodgson known - InGen kept backups of all their embroys in cryostoratge at the Cupertino, CA head quarters. Dodgson would have only had to seduce a worker from HQ to snag those embroys, rather than going all the way to Isla Nublar!
Dodgson also had to call an emergency board meeting with a quorum to get those funds for Nedry approved! I bet the folks at Biosyn were piiiiiiiiissed.
Oh absolutely! I love how the fallout of it sets the backdrop for Dodgson in “The Lost World!” Out of curiosity, do you plan on rereading that as well?
I’ve actually…..never read that one 👀 My brand new copy is currently on my desk and I’m so excited to break it open on my lunch break (I have no qualms about spoilers though, if that’s why you ask!)
Oh that’ll be exciting then! Be sure to share your thoughts on that, too! I’d love to know what you think of it (extremely different from the movie)! I was just curious as to whether you were rereading both books or just the first! :)
Also I just need to thank you for this comment! I just closed the book and finished my reread a few moments ago and I’m RABID to discuss awesome details like this. Thank you for making my night!
I that case, I might have something up your alley! Check your DMs : )
I definitely think BioSyn cared about the dinosaurs, but it seems like it was Dodgson’s pet project! I don’t doubt they at least wanted to see where InGen’s work was going but it seems like Dodgson was the passionate one driving the cause forward at breakneck speed! I love how this is our intro to Dodgson as well-taking advantage of Nedry, while backstory about deadly testing on human subjects is shared. Really shows how in the micro and macro he is awful!
Book Dodgson scared the board by telling them Hammond's plan was to sell miniature dinosaur pets that could only eat proprietary InGen pet food. That's how he got approval for the embryo theft operation.
Ooo fair enough! It did seem to be something that they saw a threat in, though, even if they weren’t super enthusiastic about it! I also love the callback to this where Hammond is like “Such a small idea, pets for kids?! I’m going beyond that!”
The suitcase is Indeed In a locker at the Costa Rican Airport. C17
I've always enjoyed the imagery of Nedry doddling around like an overgrown teenager, toting a briefcase everywhere he goes like he's playing "grown ups." \[I double checked, it's briefcase, not suitcase - my bad!\] and everyone thinking: wtf is this kid doing? Alas, there's no mention of his luggage. New Series: Instead of Storage Wars it's .... Abandoned Airport Lockers! Come see what nobody came back for - bidding starts at $20.
Haha. I'd buy that for a dollar!
Slight correction - Dodgson went to Isla Sorna, not Nublar.
True. I *intended* to suggest that Dodgson had directed Biosyn's efforts to procure embryos from ... Nublar, by recruiting Nedry. I can see how that may have been miscommunicated, especially in light of his subsequent efforts, indeed, in travelling to Sorna. Dodgson wouldn't have had to direct his efforts to procuring embyros from Nublar, nor eggs from Sonra, had they just infiltrated InGen HQ in Cupertino : )
Ah, I see
You would think Nedry would try to bargain a bit higher.
in fairness thats essentially what they are worth to ingen or anyone else in terms of developement cost. since boosyn is cutting a massive corner, they r saving money and it doesnt cost nedry anything so its still a ton of money for minimal effort. and it catches biosyn up on 10 years of research
Totally agreed! It’s just funny to me that Nedry is so starry-eyed about the 1.5mm offer when other characters know offhand that he should have/could have asked for more
True. It plays into him being in the dark about everything.
Especially after the dilo spit in his eye
good point
Well Muldoon is from the zoo industry he probably knew how much something like that would cost ned was a computer person and probably never dealt with stuff like that we only know what we know plus in that time no internet really so a lot harder to know stuff unless your really in that field
Nobody said Nedry was smart. He just knew computers well.
And in an age when the number of people who knew computers was much less. Like the novel came out in 1990, and was set in 1989, and started being written in 1983. Microsoft introduced Solitaire and Minesweeper in 1990 to help people to intuit mouse control (solitaire for drag and drop and minesweeper for precision clicking with both left and right click)
I love that detail. Nedry had no clue about the animals, and it cost him dearly. Never look back!
good ol' working class, summed up
I mean that was 3.5M back in 1990. Most people aren't gonna scoff at that.
Yeah but how much was 10MM back then?
Sure, but what would his lifestyle be like for the rest of his life? He's got to become an international fugitive and give up his stable career with a team in Cambridge that he runs.
To be fair, what they’re “worth” to InGen (presumably in terms of how much it would cost to replace them etc.), what they’re “worth” to Biosyn (far far more than what they’re worth in inGen) and what Nedry would take for the job of stealing them are all different things. Having said that…”Don’t get cheap on me Dodgson…”
Oh, absolutely! But the way Nedry is so proud of a number that didn't even hit Muldoon's bottom range gives me the same vibes as: https://preview.redd.it/tp52bfy2k70d1.jpeg?width=1038&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=50ad1fc62d51f5696b0e50a6114e99d42d240b0b
Haha, yeah! Possibly also happy to do it just to spite Hammond.