Is Moby Dick still relevant today ?

There's a fairly cool advertisement for AT&T's
Blackberry Torch mobile device that makes the case for its relevancy in the modern
setting.  Even outside of that, I think that a case can be made for Melville's work
being meaningful today.  The theme of conflict that exists between individual and nature
is very relevant in the modern setting.  Ahab's fundamental desire to "tame" nature or
to capture it in order to feed his own sense of self is something we see in many forms. 
As a growing environmental ethic is taking hold of us, there has to be some type of
reckoning to prevent individuals in becoming like Ahab himself in terms of seeing nature
as something to be "controlled" or "dominated over."  In this light, I think that the
novel can be considered to be meaningful.  At the same time, I think that the complexity
of character in Ahab is also something meaningful.  The prevailing desire in human
judgment is to seek simple and reductive solutions.  Characters are either "villains" or
"saints," representing "evil" or "good."  Ahab and even Moby Dick, himself, challenge
this because of their complex nature.  On one hand, Ahab is to be admired because of his
focus and his pursuit, as well as his authentic belief that what he is doing is right. 
Yet, on another level, these are the very elements that might compel one to feel disdain
towards him.  The whale, himself, might be another example of this complexity.  Is Moby-
Dick evil or simply a creature in the wild?  Is what he does motivated by deliberate
attempt or merely an example of its success at a Darwinian struggle for existence?  Is
there any difference between it and Ahab, who consciously plots and covets the animal's
demise?  When Gardiner recognizes the difference between a wild animal as opposed to an
evil creature, it is a moment of recognition for the reader, as well.  There is a
certain construction that Melville challenges in terms of how judgment in the modern
setting is to be rendered.  As time has passed and historical understanding has
developed, we have come to understand the complexity in our own leaders and people. 
This, in many ways, is something seen in Melville's work and a reason for its relevancy
in the modern setting.