Engineers are Sentient viruses

As sentient, "Blanks" - where we are not, and never were: the, "object".

Maybe for the same reason mom'n pop made u. Just for the fun of it ;)

@allinamberclad By blanks do you mean like chunks of silicon or sheets of paper simply to bear the information or form they wish to impart? I agree that is one of very few logical conclusions. We are a means to an end for them.

@Myrddin365 Yes. In a manner of speaking...or perhaps in the manner of a complex, autonomous and self-propagating substrate. I have been struggling with how we might be distinguished as a "complex, autonomous and self-propagating substrate", in biological terms - from other organic Life. The only answer I have is our Intelligence/Sentience. I couldn't square the thought with Intelligence, alone: so I wondered whether it might be Intelligence, defined by [i]something[/i] - as yet undetermined. I get a sense that there is some kind of consciousness projection involved in this somewhere... I'm chewing it all over...

Parhaps intelligence is defined by the ability to survive.

@BioShock Then a virus, or a flower, is: "Intelligent"? This is a very, [i]very[/i] interesting idea, but nothing like what I meant. It might actually be a totally different but related discussion. In this context, your definition, (which I actually love), would mean that anything alive would qualify for the interest of the Engineers. This doesn't seem to be the case? It seems to be about [i]us[/i], specifically. What might it be about the level of and [i]nature[/i] of [i]our[/i] Intelligence, that would be of interest to them?

@Biomechanic Yes, there are similarities - very interesting ones, I might add- but [i]here[/i], Sentience doesn't seem to be a surprise? They visited us when we were already self-aware - the suggestion is, even, that they may have [i]encouraged[/i] our existing Intelligence, in the awareness that we were already Sentient: this is why I am in orbit around this Intelligence thing for months. They encourage our Intellectual advancement, leave a notice and then disappear? [i]If[/i] their disappearance was intentional, (and [i]if[/i] they did actually disappear), it's hard not to conclude that the Intelligence thing has some kind of material [i]value[/i]. It's almost like they set a cake to bake - a cake that bakes itself, and then it comes and tell them it's done? Which act, in itself, is enough to tell them that it's baked - that it's [i]smart enough[/i], now? In my mind, I've just been edging up that road to see if goes somewhere...

The only thing that I've heard is unique about humans physiologically is our brain to body mass ratio. It's also interesting that we cannot currently prove that we use more than a very small percentage of that brain mass. Sentient intelligence just makes us good at surviving and procreating more. We probably got that one on purpose. Maybe we were engineered to have a brain mass that could house the consciousness of the engineers.

@biomechanic I LOVED the abstract. It was elegant and well thought out. Bravo.

@Myrddin365 "It's also interesting that we cannot currently prove that we use more than a very small percentage of that brain mass". Boom. In the context of our hypothesising, here, I consider that a very significant observation which I am immediately adding to my considerations.

@Wirrn Great info! thank you!

@Wirrn Genuinely: fascinating.

Intelligence is defined by the unique ability to have self awereness 'I live there for I'am'. If the Engeneers created us or help us along in our development it stands to reason that they did this for a specific purpose, not just so that we could walk and talk and built atmosphere prosessors. But what's that purpose?

@allinamberclad I am not certain they visited us after the onset of self awareness. The infected being at the waterfall seems to be the genesis of modern man. An Engineer consciousness realized that it could manifest in the human brain if it tweaked the genetics a little bit and use the new organism as a vessel that could more effectively interact with the world around it. maybe there are parameters to how much an organism can be altered from it's original form. Once the engineers infect a host, it is reasonable that they can manipulate it on a cellular level to cease aging and heal quickly. This makes it possible for them to inhabit a host indefinitely so long as there is not catastrophic damage such as burning it until no viable organic material remains. until Humans were discovered, the nervous systems of their hosts could not handle the amount of information and consciousness for long periods of time. Humans gave them the ability to exist indefinitely AND have constant control once they took over.

@Myrddin365 Wait 1, 'though? The images and whatnot? They were from developed Societies - we were certainly sentient at 4000BC and long before?.. That aside, I do agree with "parameters". I think this is crucial. A "God", has no parameters: no limits. I believe these Beings will have and I think it is a crucial distinction that maybe the humans mistake: the Beings are "God-like", [relatively speaking], but they are [i]not,[/i] Gods. Maybe a parameter or limitation might be be how much an organism can be altered at a pass - but I doubt it, given what we have seen happening to the crew. What if that, the purely physical, is the [i]easy[/i] part? What if the limitation is what can be done with that which is [i]not[/i] physical? The mind - the [i]intellect?[/i] What if it is that which requires, "passes", iterations, versions that can only progress at a given rate of reproduction - if it progresses "satisfactorily", at all? Maybe it's the development of sufficiently high order Intellect that they can't predict or control - only hope for and encourage? What if, that non-physical, intangible part, is the part they don't have complete mastery over?

I just got struck by the virus idea, and thought "I haven't seen this yet!" and had to post it. I don't know how it weighs in with the rest. I just found the concept fascinating.

@ allinamberclad I agree that the Engineers had contact with us after sentience was developed, but they may have been responsible for that sentience. They may also have seen the potential they needed in our race because of our sentience and made the necessary tweaks to accomplish their desires. We are in agreement that the one obstacle they have had difficulty overcoming is the nervous systems of their host organism.

You're referring to the engineers created mankind to be used as guests of their parasites / biological weapons. Well that would not be very different from the need (I know it's not canon, it's just a comparison) of the predators come to Earth and use humans as incubators for "the perfect prey." On the other hand the theory is not bad, but I've been thinking lately that perhaps the engineers did not create mankind. Maybe they accelerated their revolution through the ballot box, through mutations hominid ancestors became Homo sapiens. And the urns of the temple are the same technology but configured to transcribe the DNA and make the viv be become a biological weapon. But even so humans could be the guinea pigs of Engineers.

This is starting to sound like 28 days later in space.

A little DNA trivia for ya'll. Did you know that DNA is SOOOOO dense that a teaspoon of it would be enough to account for every creature on this planet many, many times over?

I like this idea. Though i don't belive we where supposed to come visit them. Having their only means of survival and procreation be ready to fight back, and eager to defend themselves is bad engineering... So we are faulted, rejects, and thats why we need to be destroyed.