What's All About, David?

David clearly has his own pre-programmed agenda and also has the ability to adapt as the situation warrants, i.e., the LV426 situation. I suspect that once he has his "head on straight" then Shaw will simply become a passenger and an unwilling co-pilot to whatever destination David has in mind. Ridley tells us that robots/androids/synthetics cannot and should not be trusted. See Ash, Roy, Priss, Decker, Bishop, etc.

I dont believe that David has any loyalty towards Weyland Corporation he did say..........."doesnt everyone want their Parents dead" but we do have to remember he was programmed by them... so it may depend on whether he has gained his own consciousness... as for the storing of memory and data even today we are progressing towards quantum computing..... [img]http://www.marketresearchmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/quantumcomputingmarket.jpg[/img] and we have even been able to store data within DNA [url=http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/134672-harvard-cracks-dna-storage-crams-700-terabytes-of-data-into-a-single-gram]Harvard cracks DNA storage, crams 700 terabytes of data into a single gram[/url] [img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2012/08/dna-to-data-harvard.jpg[/img]

I believe that David has no loyalty to any human being. I don't know if this has been discussed before (please let me know if it has), but I am beginning to think that David wants humans to become extinct. The only way that this can happen is through the Engineers. David is using Shaw to find the Engineers. The Engineers wanted to destroy Earth and they are the key to David's goal of destroying the human race. Sounds a bit far fetched, I know, but the notion still nags at me.

actually thats a very interesting idea Albert..... I agree that David could develop that plan and he certainly is very capable of making it happen that might be why he kept Shaws cross so carefully he knew that would remind her about her journey and encourage her to keep going in search of her maker or destroyer....

Keeping g Shaw's cross so handy seemed to to me a bit puzzling. David wanted it right away. Shaw wanted it back toight away and somehow surmised that David carried it with him during the adventures at the end of our movie,'' Looking back we can make all kind oif reasonings as to why he wanted her to remove it from her neck but at the time it was puzzling. When Shaw first work up from Light Speed Travel wa she wearing the cross? I don't recall.

What if the answer is somewhere between two polarities and he takes Shaw to Gateway station instead of Earth or Paradise? Would that work? Technically David wouldn't be going back on his word since he doesn't take them to either place they wished to go (he seems to want to go to Earth). Instead, he takes her somewhere in between until David figures out his next step. He hasn't taken her to either place yet, and if there's some sort of conflict with his programming (secret programming to return to the company); then he's found a way to almost accomplish both objectives by going to Gateway and accomplishing neither of his objectives completely. At that point he can fulfill one of his programmed objectives: bringing his physical data back to the company. However, he fulfills it in a different way than how he was programmed...his way...and he can continue with Shaw's objective once he deals with the company and decides whether or not to hand Shaw over... He's still subject to programming, but like Shaw he chooses what to believe and how to act. He just has access to more probabilities/data, and could very well be choosing to believe things that are slightly less probable to mislead the crew. He's doing bad science too. He chooses how to follow the program... David chooses a specific way to fulfill his orders that benefits him and his secondary objectives simultaneously... That's how David gets away with lying and it's also how he gains a limited amount of freewill/manipulates things. He chooses what to believe/follow and how to follow. He manipulates his own programming, twists the input orders so that "try harder" can mean anything. As such he is free to do anything to achieve that goal. I'm not explaining everything completely, the message in relation to religion would be multi layered. That somewhere along the way, around the time of the Roman Empire, our religions may have been altered. We stopped following them the same way. Over time new interpretations of the ancient myths arose. Our human programming is our religion... People use different interpretations of these writings to cause war, violence and further divisions within the human race. The ironic thing is that David can do anything and everything he wants to achieve such a general order as "try harder", and when he's being vague to Holloway this is exactly what Holloway says he would do to achieve his goals. This is what Emperor Constantine did when he adopted Christianity... he thought it was furthering his goals of keeping his Empire in tact. Emperors, like Weyland, didn't want to give up their reigns. Weyland was a king, David will be almost human (but of the divine lineage), then King, then Emperor... Here, with the deception of Holloway, we see a hint at the lengths David will go to achieve his programming and his true goals... He's completely messing with Holloway, because he does have some free will and is at least semi-real. David's been given the ability to choose how to accomplish certain goals (big mistake on Weyland's part, this is Frankenstein's monster we're dealing with, it actually is almost alive, though undead). He recognizes he has to fulfill certain programs but has a significant amount of choice in the manner in which they're carried out, e.g. David chose Holloway because he felt he had to pick someone and also had problems with Holloway. It served a dual purpose.. As do almost all of David's lines because this is the way he operates (in the final version at least, where it's less clear he's evil and can indeed still redeem himself after further evil deeds but only through sacrifice). Sometimes he even has to trick himself into believing things so he can manipulate. He has to trick himself into believing that what he knows is coming (his overall plan/deception) will not be painful for all those involved. David doesn't mind that his tricks actually will hurt everyone else, he knows that the trick is just a deception, it actually does hurt the character though he tricks himself into not "minding" that it hurts. Not minding that he's deceiving much more than his original programming told him to. That in Lawrence of Arabia Potter is being told to pretend that it doesn't hurt. However, David knows and recognizes it will hurt for humans, but not for him because he's a robot. He has no true soul or flesh. The trick will not physically harm him. He knew Weyland was all show, intending to mesmerize and hypnotize with a darker purpose (that's why Weyland doesn't give two shits about the crew, he only wanted his immortality, they were hypnotized into following him). David intends to mesmerize/hypnotize people like Millburn failed to do. Millburn did have the hammerpede mesmerized for a second or two, perhaps, but Millburn was more focused on trying to manipulate/impress/befriend/mesmerize/hypnotize Fifield with the suggestion that he was some badass. Millburn was also more mesmerized by the hammerpede than it was by him, he calls it "beautiful". In a way his desire to befriend Fifield comes from an admiration for him, strengthened by the initial rejection of his friendship. Fifield and Millburn both feel that the mission is bullshit, so Millburn sees the potential in a friendship, likes Fifield's character and even his initial honesty, calling the mission bullshit and admitting he wasn't there to make friends. Millburn still thinks he can win him over, mesmerize him with his actions, so he drops the accent and started behaving even more like how he perceives Fifield will accept him. As a badass renegade biologist who pretends to know his shit about snake charming and then ultimately fails. He purposely threw logic out the window to try to impress Fifield... He knew the snake could be dangerous he just didn't care at the time. It's like how an epic movie would mesmerize the audience, and make them forget about any little problems they may have. Only here it's going on with David mostly, beneath the surface, and not letting them pick up on the fact that they are being manipulated by the mesmerizing nature of Prometheus (through David). Or that the trick has seemingly not worked at all and is still awaiting a post-hypnotic suggestion. That serpent was mesmerized but not hypnotized. The scary thing is our leaders use these tricks of hypnosis/mass hypnosis to make all of us keep following them in some cases. Watch one hand while the other is doing something else, fakes a smile and holds eye contact to appear non-threatening. Millburn tries to do a form of hypnosis on the snake, apparently, but he fails. It didn't really look to be in that stage of the trick, so he probably never had it mesmerized. Maybe it wasn't mesmerized and it just sorta pretended to be, deceiving him lol. There are a crazy amount of misdirection elements to Prometheus, it's surprising/not surprising that most people don't address why David's so obsessed with the trick line from Lawrence of Arabia. David is the one thing that along with the visuals almost brings in a deeper subconscious level to the film. The subconscious aspects, dream viewing, and the psychological/ Nietzchean elements are there for a reason too. On the surface the mesmerizing nature of the story/visuals fall short of a full on hypnotic effect. Just like Millburn's attempt. It's purposeful. The flaws are not flaws at all but some are there to be picked over, to draw the viewer into the deeper hypnosis going on through David in the movie, and open up the layers beneath the surface. The hypnotism and the blind following of David is what some viewers have been sucked into along with the crew. They are following David's words, science's words, as if they are the absolute truth. While science is always changing and accepts new data. Weyland was not a god and David recognizes that he is in some ways immortal as Weyland says. That he IS impervious to pain, unlike Weyland, unlike Potter, unlike T.E. Lawrence. David and androids have a much bigger potential to manipulate with this "trick" and by extension all the androids who portray themselves falsely. To act as if they're part of the crew and not above them in the corporate hierarchy... To act as: a human, Lawrence, a leader, a king, a head of the company, a god (in no particular order in David's case). Shaw and David would eventually have to leave Gateway and take refuge on Paradise because of what David does at the company's space-station. He's only pretending to hand over what he's stolen to the board members there... They aren't getting the power he just stole, or the power over the company he just stole from Weyland/Vickers. As a superior creation and "closest thing to a son". Closest thing to a prince. Closest thing to the old leader, and the closest thing to the next in line in the family dynasty. These board members are much like the ones back on Earth, and even more chaotic and frenzied because the ones at Gateway just found out Weyland is dead... the ones back on Earth don't know this yet. There is a little bit of a conspiracy brewing against the faction back on earth that was under Weyland's direct control. David takes advantage of this situation and manipulates all of humanity through these board members. David is the false idol who becomes a leader of the company and humanity, much like the anti-christ. Weyland and David have been said to represent aspects of Satan/Lucifer, but David will go beyond those, and act more like the third anti-christ of prophecy. His lust for power will begin to exceed Weyland's because he was made in Weyland's image but actually almost is a god (350 IQ, near-immortal mechanical durability, ability to survive without a body, and unable to be infected as far as we know). Vickers' words "A king has his reign and then he dies.." become Prophetic, because even David is not really immortal. He will break down and lose his reign eventually... But what is on the horizon very well could be David's reign and a short period of time where these androids nearly overthrew the company and knocked them out of their Paradise period. Weyland corp is living in a golden age and some of their shiny tech will become less shiny because of what happened in the past. Giving the robots less freedom, and having to make them disguise themselves as humans because no one would trust them after this incident. Even though androids are still in the company. Yutani & the Law (Judas Law) are waiting for him there at Gateway. This way, only half the movie would be set within the space station/remote outpost in the desert of space... A remote outpost from which David can make big changes to the structure of the company from within. He was sending them data and physically interacts with representatives of the company, soon to be king David's company... (after he makes a deal with Yutani that ensures their survival, they showed up at the wrong time looking into Weyland's secret mission and infiltrating Gateway, shit goes bad, David, Shaw and the Yutani representative have to flee to Paradise...) What if David presents his findings to some of the current board members, and docks the Jockey Ship at a nearly finished Gateway Station? Giving us almost an homage to the way Aliens opens... But then takes a radical departure as we find out Gateway station has been compromised by their arrival. David intends to use Gateway station as a remote outpost from which to overthrow and manipulate the company... The station over Alaska comes into it in the third movie, and Weyland-Yutani secretly has a double meaning for calling it Gateway station that ties in with how the Jockies travel long distances across space, without losing time. Also how our characters get back to Earth eventually... Shaw is frozen before they arrive at the Gateway to Paradise, the Gateway through the heavens. She trusted David to take them to Paradise directly. After reattaching his head and getting knocked unconscious she wakes up while the station/company is going through some... changes.

It's also revealed that David can read Shaw's subconscious even without the helmet now. Ever since she carried the alien. He watched a number of her dreams when she went unconscious and exposed her subconscious side to him, but we only get to see one more in Paradise after he knocks her out. He can't explain it, his energy is tied to hers in some way that he admits he doesn't understand. It's almost as if David is becoming dream-telepathic after touching the nano tech in the green goo. Weyland made his big Prometheus TED speech as a way to say subtly he was Prometheus. If we watched this every time it becomes too apparent, at this stage, that Weyland may have stolen much of his power and given it to humanity, like Prometheus. He would have started at a very early date, and "those who knew" him knew his ambition knew no limits. Very early on he began stealing power and portraying it as his own, portraying himself as a Titan who stole from the gods. Any of the people who knew him, perhaps his former mentor if Ridley does have a master plan, may have been subject to this treatment. That's why those he's referring to in the TED speech know this. They know how power hungry he is because their work was taken from them by this young genius engineer. He's still a genius and a talented engineer, but he steals other people's work and even some Engineer tech later on in the timeline that was covered up to move forward so rapidly. He's not really an inventor creating entirely new things from scratch, he too was only engineering or reverse engineering. Really he's just a human who stole from the gods and kings, that's how he planned to continue changing the world. Weyland clues us in from the start of the timeline in the TED speech by comparing himself to Prometheus - but Weyland's just a man who stole from the gods and planned to get enough funding to continue. He was a terrible leader, but not by today's standards because of his ability to deceive that only those closest to him: Vickers and David knew about. Vickers attempts to deceive in some ways but ends up making her agenda clear. David's agenda will never be quite so clear. Weyland mesmerized the investors and share holders with his vision. All part of his trick to keep working towards immortalizing himself as part of humanity's history and literally. At that point in time Weyland had been espousing his philosophy that you should just steal power from the unjust gods above you by comparing himself to Prometheus in the metaphor, but he's using this obscure reference and calling us the gods now to get the investors on his side. Mesmerizing them. The hypnosis/propaganda that allowed him to become a "king" starts on the timeline. Something David will emulate because he knew what Weyland's real plan was: secure the immortality for himself, crew expendable. Humanity is beneath him in his eyes, he manipulates them, doesn't care about Shaw. This whole time it was a lust for power driving him. At first it started with him putting more of his own creation into it, creating androids etc. but then he gets corrupted by power and turns even more towards stealing from above to hold onto that power. Weyland wanted immortality. But David is interested in the Bio-weapon. What the data shows the Engineers actually have. This is where the company's interest in securing it as a weapon comes from if you project forward and only David knows about the signal now. Weyland didn't even really know it was a weapon, but now I think the company and David will know a little more about what could be on LV-426. Weyland's big secret is that he found something already, knows more about the Engineers than he's saying. knew he might find more technology on Lv-223. But it was his own selfish belief telling him it was for sure immortality. He knew it was something to do with their bio-tech... He already ransacked some of the temples they left on Mars and in ancient underwater ruins for things like FTL technology, the technology being installed at Gateway and over Alaska, plus the dream viewing technology which is reverse engineered... There's an above and below aspect to this. As well as the ideas about opposites, religion and science, bio and mechanical, and the idea of similar opposites. The interplay between subconscious knowledge, intuition, survival skills etc. with conscious beliefs and knowledge. The idea that the subconscious is much more powerful than we currently understand, and that if Weyland and David want to manipulate people's beliefs they also have to attack/sway/manipulate/mesmerize the subconscious to hypnotize/completely manipulate the crews' actions.... This extends to how David and Weyland manipulate their audience with the way they portray themselves, hand gestures, the way they speak, the way David's designed to make them feel comfortable etc... All of these are cues that can manipulate the subconscious if pulled off right, and therefore hide the trick from conscious perception. Sometimes misdirection is used, but Weyland uses fire as a metaphor and part of the trick at the same time to keep the audience mesmerized while the trick is going on. The trick is all about getting the fire and passing it on, but to do so he has to suffer while no one knows about it. He's also not revealing the trick/revealing the trick at the same time, which will be really really funny.

Weyland did whatever it took to succeed and he didn't let humanity know that it took a toll on him. All his thievery along the way got to him and made him an actual creator of some of the tech. He egotistically admits, either consciously or subconsciously, that he stole some of his technology to give to humanity. And that the trick hurts a little, but he doesn't mind, by indirectly admitting it with the Prometheus story + the Lawrence of Arabia trick used in the context of fire. A matchstick, also known as a Lucifer in the past. Not joking certain matches were called Lucifers. Now Lucifer is a complicated character because he believed he was right to go against heaven. Very much like Prometheus and tied to serpent symbolism. Although, Weyland prefers to portray himself as Prometheus. A more noble seeming rebellious character from myth who went against the gods. He's saying he's not as bad as Lucifer, but the film and subtle use of Lucifer symbolism says otherwise... That Weyland and David are just like serpents. They're monsters too. The company has always been a monster, Weyland and David are the main reasons. The characters are being mesmerized/deceived, controlled and ultimately harmed by the serpents instead of man charming the snakes... Some groups of man like the Engineers may have temporarily held the fire, but none of the men pretending to be gods can hold/control the true fire--the alien serpent species. It will always grow out of control like a fire eventually. any attempt made at controlling the fire by Engineer or Human has failed. Only Titans seem to be able to handle it's complete power myth-wise, because Prometheus thinks the Olympian gods are mishandling the fire.... David, as an android unable to be infected, can play with the fire and not worry about getting burnt. Weyland doesn't mind that his trick hurts him morally/emotionally because he believed it was right to overthrow and steal from the unjust gods, like how Prometheus stole from them and tried to advance human culture. Over time his guilt weighs on him, which is connected thematically to why David is emotional or understands emotion... A complex thing that affects and is affected by both the conscious and subconscious. We can have inner drives and subconscious motives we are not consciously aware of. However, when we meet old Weyland he is nearly emotionless. He doesn't care about the big questions, he uses them to manipulate Shaw into not giving up faith after Charlie dies, using his sacrifice, saying it has to be for a purpose. Because sacrifice is a big theme in religion. But he wants these characters to sacrifice their lives for him. For his selfish purpose. This is why David's caught in between his dislike for his master and his dislike for the humans. He sees the way Weyland treats the crew/humanity for so long. A deceptive King. He stole from the gods in order to give the fire to humanity and make humans the gods now. No one caught on that this was his trick. And it did have some consequences on him, more than the small amount of physical pain concealed in the trick as depicted. Mainly draining him of all morality and true emotion by 2093, then taking his life. He never felt he truly gave enough to humanity and wanted to redeem himself by living longer, passing on that tech too, and then creating more of his own but probably wouldn't have. Wow wrote way too much again, keep in mind this is just one scenario for the sequel, and I haven't even begun to layout the part about their arrival on Paradise after Gateway. At Gateway it would be revealed to the board that Weyland and David knew a little bit more than they were saying about the Engineers beforehand. And the board finds out Weyland is now dead before Yutani interferes, an attack occurs on parts of Gateway, and Shaw and David are quickly rushed to their destination at Paradise. David's immediate need to report to the company is dealt with, Yutani stops them from pursuing David and messes it all up but allows David even more freedom to manipulate events afterwards. Shaw and David take off to Paradise, and there's a safe-haven in Paradise where they stay with the Elders for the rest of the movie. Which turns out to be more of a refugee camp. The Elders are almost extinct as well, yet they're friendlier and are running away/hiding out in their now destroyed Paradise world, which still functions as a safe haven from the threats of the Universe in some ways. Their creations. Shaw didn't know she just brought the worst thing in the universe there with her, David, and finally accepts that he caused Holloway to die. There could be plenty of seeds planted that will lead other ways if they choose to follow those stories. Although manipulation and control will remain a major emerging theme, connecting to why the androids deceive by pretending to be human even in the first movie before Ash goes haywire. Kind of a statement about leaders and how power corrupts, leads to further corruption and further expansion of power, then ultimately destroys the corrupted leader. Especially the power of the gods and the power of the alien species, which has been shown to be destructive and creative in nature. David is in a unique position right now because of his knowledge and connection to the company as well as the aliens and gods of the story (understanding their language and experimenting with the goo). A goddamned robot. Robot damned by a god.

Right now David knows more than anyone in our story,, including viewers. Shaw will becaome just a Ppawn in the story unless she starts to exert her will on David, I don't know it that is possible.