Alien evolution theory.

Great analysis! I would like to further add that the planet seemed to reacted to the opening of the ample room, as if they were meant to set of some kind of process.  That goo will flow from the cyilinders into the room where worms are kept(First alteration).  Then to follow out of the ample room into the hallways where freezing flowing liquid transports the goo down into the cavernous undergound.  The silica blowing around outside could work itself at the base of the temple down to the single opening the crew entered.  Once inside the internal mechanisms of the structure could have access to the silica for what ever purpose. The whole structure is like an electrified computer...David touches the symbols on the walls it lights up and then a huge holographic image is some how displayed leading the visitors to set off the trap?

Mister, I  love that theory. I had thoughts the ample room was some sort of booby trap (egyptian tomb style) . But the whole temple acting as a mechanism is awesome. Maybe david was aware of the possibilities of the temple and intentionly set it off. He just saw the crew as a means to an end, or even just media perhaps.

i like this theory also. I thought it was more than just coincidence all the simultaneous events that happened just as the storm stated.

It is a good theory too I like the part where the silica and electricity could have turned it into silicon. So in a way maybe the original xenomorphs biomechanical nature was made into an accidental monster before they weaponized it. The only thing thats bugging me about this is that the xenos are more or less designed in the first place but evolved with a biomech structure and thats where the silicon comes into play. IDK

The surface of the earth is made up of 28 percent silica. Silica is sand. Sand technically is the remainder of calcium carbonate shells, from billions of years, of these sea creatures’ shells breaking down into sand.

Human anatomy is composed of primarily 65 percent Oxygen, 15 percent Carbon, and 10 percent Hydrogen. Carbon bonds as they relate to organic chemistry form stronger bonds than silicon bonds. Structurally this is the reason why mammals used carbon instead of silicon.

In the Alien movie polarized silicon at the atomic level would allow for an “interesting” mix of chemical molecular properties. First it would allow for another type of electron mobility that we could not begin to understand electrically because of what the biomolecular cellular structure would look like. I can tell you this, it could allow for a range of properties that have to do with regulating temperature for one thing. Also it could really make the transport of “acid” and a very strong one for blood because its cellular walls would be non-reactive to it at the molecular level and not share electrons.

You are incorrect to assume that because there is a “silica” “sand” storm on the surface with lightning “electrical activity” that this would cause the sand to form silicon and then the adaptation and evolutionary mutation of the “Black Goo” would be a variable in its structural development.

From a biological engineering stand point we don’t know all the other variables involved in how the cells of the Alien are composed.

I can submit this as proof though. In Aliens VS. Predator there are scenes where and Xeno’s head is completely sliced all the way through showing quite a bit of glorious anatomy not ever seen in any of the other films. Also, one of the preds rips off the head of the Xeno and gives the human the Xenos head plate as a primitive warriors shield. I suggest you review this movie before commenting further. We can deduce from the cleaved Xeno head that there are structures where acid blood is not the only blood supply.

Great topic, I been waiting to back into a discussion where we can all talk about the science in this film…way cool – thanks for submitting. We have to be careful though because once BigDave sees this we are going to get a dissertation on molecular biology that will make my head spin for weeks. LOL

I like this idea, I think that we were created/hybridized, but the Alien evolves...

The Alien is the "perfect organism" to Ash, it had defensive advantages, acid for blood, "you don't dare kill the son of a bitch". Some of the Alien's traits could be acquired over time and generations. Possibly the resut of evolution of some sort, or many traits it harvested from past hosts and carried forward successfully...

Not a typical evolution.  Mixed with the goo, also an evolutionary accelerant. The goo only hybridized the preexisting microbial life on Earth with Engineer DNA, that's how their DNA is a match with everything, mitchondrial DNA connects everything.. 

There are actually very good reasons that Shaw discounts some of Darwin's interpretations on the evolution of man. There's no "missing link", or the transitional fossil Darwin described/predicted. Archaeologists talk about last common ancestors, and ook at this part of evolution in a very different way. What used to be called the "missing link" is now not much more than a myth, a belief held by Darwinists, because the evolution of man worked a tad differently than what we've been taught repeatedly in that chart that shows linear evolution of man.  According to the fossils many hominins overlap in time and space for strange reasons and we're finding evidence that hominin lines were interbreeding. Hybrid theories, out-warring theories and the crossbreeding/out-breeding theories for why Homo Sapiens replaced everyone else are becoming more and more important.

Archaeologists couldn't find the missing link, they found much more, many common ancestors that tell a slightly different story about branching evolutions, many different traits that emerged in many different ways, at different times or at the exact same time in different locations as convergent evolutions... The environment plays a key role in shaping body type. Which can allow for this story to make sense scientifically for why Engineers are so different yet have the same genetics. We look for the spot where hominin lines branch.  We technically never evolved from apes -- we branched from a common ancestor that apes and humans share before Australopithecus Afarensis. We share common ancestors...  There are a few candidates for Last common ancestor. Darwin's missing link concept is somewhat outdated, although our culture likes to hold onto certain ideas.. that's not to say that Darwin was wrong, he had some predictions about early man backwards. the evolution of man's line and the chimp's line came from earlier creatures that preceded both us.

Archaeologists and biologists look for last common ancestors and talk about the universal common ancestor now because they already have a few new theories about how one species becomes another.  Some even talk about the idea of Panspermia, space bringing the seeds of life to earth..

Shaw shows medical knowledge throughout the film, she's enthusiastic about the head, and already understands how the Weyland tech works somehow, archaeologists study technologies and their use and movement across time.  Shaw was very familiar with the medpod beforehand, knew only a certain number were created, also has some biological knowledge, she could get answers from the dead bodies, and cared about their biology and the carbon readings more than Holloway. Holloway wanted to interact with the culture, play with his toys...Archaeologists have to combine many sciences...but have a choice over which sciences to study, and which sub-disciplines they lean on, as well as which theories they follow...To become an archaeologist Shaw needed at least a few bio and biological anthropology classes. Anthroplogists can pursue biological/physical anthroplogy as a subdiscipline instead of archaeology, but Shaw chose to be an archaeologist.

There are subdivisons to everything, even parts of culture, factions, and disciplines, people have choices over what area of the discipline or culture they go into. Even though she's an archaeologist, she prob took a majority of biological anthropology classes prior to this..Archaeologists actually need to study almost everything...It relies on every single way of looking at things known to man, it involves the use of every scientific theory, and every discipline in one way or another because it's the study of mankind and its origins.

It's made up of many parts of psychological, sociological and biological theories that comprise its cross-analytic way of looking at things, to study the complexities of man involves every science. To analyze cultures in space and time it involves physics + mathematics and complex formulas that predict associations record the providence of artifacts in 3D space. data mapping, map and math skills are needed,, even criminolgy and forensics comes into play. The half-lifes of things must be known. Many advanced techniques are employed in absolute dating besides radio-carbon dating. Things must be callibrated. Knowledge of tech is a requirement, knowledge of new theories and perspectives is a requirement. Thinking outside and inside the box at the same time is a requirment, cross-analytical studies must be done, you must have good research skills. Studying religion/mythology is a must because otherwise you can't get an accurate picture of the culture. You need to know as much about the history of the culture and geographic area you plan to study. You need to know about mineralogy, mettalurgy, metals, soil types and geology.. Basically there are so many little things that go into it. Shaw is much smarter than she lets on but remains ambiguous like David, and has survial instincts in her as well. She might have even been a better geologist and biologist than Fifield and Millburn, who both gave scientists everywhere a bad name.

There are valid reasons why Shaw as an archaeologist is willing to go against Darwin..his early theories about the missing link stuff were a little bit off... We can all be a little bit wrong about what we're expecting, even if we have a good idea, and have worked out the "broad strokes". Natural selection and all the observations made by Darwin and his theory are correct, but life and those underlying ideas about the environment producing advantageous traits and different variations of the same species are even more complicated than he originally thought with his finches. Biologists already understand some of the branching process because of Cladistics and Taxonomy. The Evolution of man is actually a branching process, similar to how all life branched from a single celled organism...but the typical depiction of linear evolution from one type of early man to another is off, it's hard to tell where one species ends and another begins because there were many variations, many things were happening and some were evolving in different environments...There were still robust austalopithecines around during the time of Homo Habilis. Homo Ergaster, Homo Rhudolphensis, and then Homo Erectus...The problem is they all branched off at almost the same times, were still around when the others were doing their thing.

@HiveMinded

Absolutely incredible post....I will try to respond back as soon as I am able to do so....just got home and I am too tired right now.

A first read over your hypotheses will not be sufficient enough for me to respond though. BigDave you feel like taking a first go at some of this? 

@ Redant Thanks,the whole last common ancestor idea is something that's been around for a while.  Microbiology is something I hope BigDave knows a lot about. I currently NEED to know all I can about mitochondrial DNA to find out if other parts of my thesis work..Classifying things, making interpretations is key in Anthropology, some Archaeologists (who are overspecialized) get accustomed to only recording data for later use. Archaeology has to preserve things. Keep things in context.

The environment is always changing. Everything that enters the archaeological record did so only because it's in a state of preservation. When we start digging for things the primary context can be lost, things need to be left in situ, for the most part. If the orignal context is lost, and artifacts are removed without data taken, then the possible associations between finds become lost. What might have happened at the site, how the artifacts were used, and their relationships in space/time become lost if not preserved by transformative processes that happen beneath the surface. Such as mummification, petrification, and fossiliization -- elements and organics are replaced by stone or a leathery material after they die to keep them preserved. The way Egyptian mummies are wrapped and have the organs removed actually keeps the body preserved until we expose them to the elements...basically sarchophagi and mummies kinda act like hyper sleep chambers...Egyptians believed they were preserving the bodies and soul for the afterlife.

Shaw told David not to touch anything, only took the head. Recognized they'd disturbed the atmosphere/air in the room, and thus the state of preservation things were in quickly faded. Air and moisture are givers of life as well as the takers away... Even parts of David will eventually rust and breakdown... Data has to be painstakingly recorded, uncovering archaeological finds is usually a delicate process.The locations of artifacts/features are recorded in a grid according to latitudes and longitudes, and then recorded/measured to the nearest centimeter...Satellites plot the exact location of each archaeological site, and place it on a grid. Ground penetrating radar and magnetic signals bounced back off satellites can now see some sites before we even dig them up...

The depth of artifacts must be recorded, so 3D mapping is necessary... and faster/easier in the future... Radicarbon seems easier too, and auto callibrates for carbon 12, then worked carbon 14 through a formula, all organisms take in carbon 14. The cameras recorded all the data in the temple...We see shaw going over it in the room when Charlie interrupts her. Once unwrapped and exposed to oxygen and moisture a mummy will rapidly deteriorate before your eyes and turn to dust, if not stored in anaerobic environments, or preserved with things similar to what David sprayed the ampule with..Or in an amazing state of preservation like the head.

Every species constantly consumes as it produces... Constantly converting matter into energy or other matter just beneath the surface. When yeast (a micro-organism) is used to make liquor you have to almost feed the yeast sugars, sugar chains from fruit, crops etc for the fermentation process to occur. If the sugars run out the yeast stops producing, it dies... "No man needs nothing".  "no species or subspecies needs nothing" The engineers were "mortal after all". Everything needs an energy source, even David.  Weyland might act like a nihilist and perceive that there's nothing, but I believe what he was looking for was too small to be found, and David already found it. "Big things have small beginnings", and many changes are going on in every species all the time at microscopic levels, many transformative processes...This android needed to eat. I think the immorality was really in the nano-spores David was interested in...Species that are between life and death use spores...Decomposers use spores. Fungi uses spores..

We're transformed by natural selection. We also process nature and transform it.  We transform the environment to suit our needs and match our images. We selectively process and transform nature, and it also selectiively shapes us...The Alien is still a part of nature and wishes to process us...We create the things around us in our image, the other species also put their marks on the landscape, the environment, and the walls...Every living organism constantly takes in carbon 14 from space, and many other elements. Carbon 14 is cosmic carbon, comes from suns, and is used in radio carbon dating, The carbon decays at a predictable rate, has a half-life of around 5730 years, and this allows for accurate dating when worked through formulas and mass spectrometers.

The body carries out many complex processes transforming amino acids into protein chains etc, breaking down food to get protein and other things the body requires. It intakes and transforms the environment in many ways...The environment shapes the landscape and organisms in many ways, erosion, light and co2 being converted into energy by plants etc... The Engineer needed to breath oxygen. Needed a planet kind of similar to earth. But Earth already had plant life and a lot of water, There is nothing in the desert and no man needs nothing...David knew it wasn't their home planet... Carbon is important to them, they're based on carbon, The alien organism is partially based on silicon...Both were present in the atmosphere of LV-223, along with other carbons and elements. The fact that we contantly intake carbon and transform it at molecular levels is important to Archaeology. The engineer has different ways of doing things, but he needs to breathe, consume, and intake carbon, as well as other thngs, but maybe not in the same percentages we do... The body will die after 3 days without some sort of water..."There is nothing in the desert, and no man needs nothing"...

Some interesting points made, but as far as the OT well i think maybe we need to look at things a bit simpler, and we have to remember the movie is a Sci Fi and is using a lot of Persudo Science.

By that if we look at what the movie is showing us, and that is that these Engineers seeding their DNA via the Sacrificial Scene is how mankind and maybe all complex life on Earth came to be as far as the Alien Franchise, but we know chances of this or similar in real life and via the same or similar methods are well very very slim indeed.

As far as the Xeno goes, we only have clues throughout the movie, and all we can conclude from them is that the Xeno is connected to the Engineers, Space Jockey and the Goo/Urns and LV 223 and the Murals and Frescos...

How well we cant be sure but what it seems to show is that the Xeno is either.

1) Something that Evolved on LV 223 with help of the Goo maybe?

2) Something created from some Experiment on LV 223

3) Something that was taken to LV 223 to be tested on or re-weaponized

Now maybe the reason they put that the Atmosphere contained silca and how the Original Face Huger was Silicone based, is no Accident or coincidence so maybe yes, these Engineers had expermented on or with some Organism and that Goo and some how maybe there was a contamination with Silca that indeed is why the Xeno is Silicone based?

Its a possibility...

As far as on Earth and the Missing link etc.... well i think with the Xeno there is also a missing link and i feel that the creature in the Fresco could indeed be the answer to all thats going on.. If and when we get more answers to what this Organism is, then maybe this would answer the how and where the Xeno came from.

The Xenos origins are still a mystery the number of possibilities are many, but yes LV 223 seems to be a place that the Organism or related predecessor was indeed experimented on and evolved.

Lindeloff hints that the Xeno has connections to what is on LV 223, and that Evolution had occurred and he kind of hints about the Hammerpede connection, but we know those Hammerpedes wont lead to the Xeno but we can never say for sure that what happened in Prometheus is the first and only time that the Goo has came into contact with the LV 223 Worms.

Ridley also hinted that the Cargo on the Derelict Evolved too, which could maybe be a hint that the Eggs was not originally the Cargo?  Again so many clues and counter clues and comments that we are still in the dark as far as the Xeno Origins and Purpose.

Now as far as the Temple goes and the Storms, well the design of the Temple Mound is based off Gigers Harkonnen Temple. One interesting point was the Temple/Castle was able to use fluid from living organisms and process and convert them into a matter that acts as Energy and the waste material is pumped out of the Temple and ejected into the Air and into Raging Storms.

Not saying this is how the Temple in Prometheus is meant to operate mind.

That's kinda what I'm talking about..."There's nothing in the desert, and no man needs nothing". David hints that everything needs energy.  He suspected they were "mortal after all", he deduced this like Holloway did, with "gods don't build in straight lines". The mythical figure prometheus represents foresight in some ways. There's something that makes David run, it's not a cord, and Vickers doesn't scare him... It could be more about transformational processes than we think...Mutations, morphing.

Maybe Holloway was half-right, and they were terraforming there, there could be subtle clues that the way the way Harkonnen temple works is kinda present in Prometheus. Weathered and eroded by time. Only certan influences. The keyword being that they were terraforming, before the outbreak...Maybe the black goo was also the source of all their energy, created life as well as breaks it down again in cycles to sort of harvest us, created only to be destroyed... The alien depicted in the mural was broken down, and had its genetics stored in the ampule. I think the Alien was a sacrificial figure. Spread crucifix like Ripley when she dove into the Lava, made a sacrifice.

We do see a storm develop very suddenly right after David disturbs the room. Linking the idea of atmospheric distrubance in the room, with the atmospheric disturbance immediately following, when the storm develops.

This quote from V for Vendetta sums up my thinking: "There are no coincidences, only the illusion of coincidence". Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, but sometimes there are very real patterns to be recognized and picked up on. The Silica in the atmosphere could be more than coincidence, although I'm not sure. It's a pattern that's only come up once so far, so it's hard to tell if it's connected to the recurring ideas yet..

After analyzing the film I do realize it's intended to be ambiguous on many levels. Like artwork itself. It can be interpreted in many ways. However, there is usually some sort of intent, or meaning behind each act of work. Each act of work expends valuable energy. They were making sacrifices and taking risks, taking bets, Vickers likes to minimize risk (from the evolutionary perspective on the psychology of gender this is accurate, females quite often minimize risk).. I think there's some bigger idea Ridley is working towards. Ridley said that in Paradise he can start "evolving the grand idea". What we have in Prometheus so far are only pieces of the puzzle. We can only work out the "broad strokes". Each person makes their own interpretations on the finer points, but there are many points we can all agree on after logically deducing some things.

The thing about anthro/archaeo is it's all about determining patterns.  Some things could be coincidences, or convergences.  Comparing systems of organization both man-made and natural is how we gain much of our knowledge. There are some basic similarities between the design of the temple and Weyland air processors. Form follows function.  In the Happy Birthday viral, where they ask David what he sees in the ambiguous images and strange patterns they actually want him to see or not see certain things...For me, I'm still trying to frame all the points of data into some sort of at least semi-scientific framework. I think that every piece of data we've ever officially received is still important.

Basically I don't think Prometheus can be solved until we have more data. We often try to simplify things before we have all the data, and this just makes things more complicated. The thing is, life never tends to be as simple as we try to make it.  There are usually multiple factors that contribute to anything that can be observed. All the info available to us from the other movies may stil be relevant and perhaps even necessary to understand the Alien lifecycle fully.

I have a lot of ideas about the Alien lifecycle and the mural, but I can't hazard accurate guesses on those things completely just yet. All I've got so far is possible links to some of the other stuff i've already determined about the Engineers, culturally speaking. Like the significance of their worship of the Alien, the cross symbol and things in the temple being arranged in amost a sacrificial or ceremonial fashion.

It's hinted in the movie the temple could be a place of worship, the artwork seems to back this up, and the theme of this movie is sacrifice.  The cross symbol, and the alien standing in the crucifix pose means sacrifice within the context of the story. The cross symbol is about Jesus's sacrfice more than an act of rebellion or jesus literally being an Engineer. We see Ripley do a crucifix and dive into the lava in Alien 3, also about sacrifice in the end. The sacrificial Engineer was forced to sacrifice himself. "it's only flesh and blood Mr. Potter". The brain has no real pain receptors. That's for the body. Impulses are sent to the brain, they can be ignored. The pain we think we feel is mainly psychological. It's all about perception.It won't actually hurt when they trick brains back to life.  Nothing ever gets accomplished without hard work and a little sacrifice.  Everything worth obtaining requires expenditures. Weyland corp raised the money, not Shaw and Holloway.  They became employees, and we already know how they treat employees: expendable. Without expending some effort, gathering resources, or drawing a little blood nothing ever gets done. The theme of this movie is sacrifice. "What would you do to get what you came all this way for, your answers?". "try harder" "sometimes to create one must first destroy" "The trick is not minding that it hurts", all related to the recurring theme of sacrifice... Everything starts small. Big ideas come from small observations and evolve.

There are some major points in this discussion that have just stood out to me. If you hear the sound of hoofs do you go looking for unicorns or logically deduce that the simplest answer is horses. Prometheus on the other hand has Shaw looking for mythical goodness, whereas what is found is possibly the cloven hoof of evil.

There are many factors that can affect the evolution of an organism, as has been previously stated. There is one factor that has not really entered the arena, that being the evolution of thought.

 I confess that I am only just joining some dots up here, whether I’m seeing a pattern that leads to a solid solution, I’m not sure, but here goes.

 What if the building the Harkonnen style temple/outpost is in some way alive. What if it reacts to factors that are not easily seen, such as thought. Possibly Engineer thoughts. The whole complex seems to be like a pineal gland, with the ampule room being the centre for alien thought processing. A room where the evolution of life can be brought about through the properties of the goo.

 It has often been discussed that when Shaw enters the ampule room the atmosphere is disturbed. Now, I don’t know if anyone has noticed that there is no light. After watching Prometheus with this in mind. I’m starting to think that it is not the oxygen in the room that is causing reactions, but the light of the torches.

When David points his torch at the top of one of the ampules it looks like it is really reacting to the beam of light from his torch.

 If you look at a xeno it does not have eyes, which would suggest being more suited to an environment where there is no light.

 I don’t know how familiar everyone is with the film The Forbidden Planet where the monsters that destroyed its planets inhabitants were created from thought, but what are the chances that the engineers were working on a similar type of technology. Creatures engineered through the evolution of a thought/ idea. The ampule room being the incubator and centre for those thoughts to be realised.

I realise this is a somewhat abstract path of reasoning, but who knows.

@ Batchpool Very interesting thoughts!! To tell you the truth I think it's a distinct possibilty, as far outside the box as it may seem. It would also be a nice way to tie some things together that I've been wondering about but can't work out. There are certain things that support the idea that things of that nature could be involved. Another thing to add to that train of thought is the green crystal. I've gone over it in my head before, and it might fit in somewhere in these patterns, because now I'm starting to think it doesn't fit with other things. Also someone else once brought up the idea of interactive holograms/holographic universe theories, which I find really interesting too. The spiral structure of DNA, is similar to the spiraling that gives holograms their form. Some holograms are able to be felt and interacted with by David and others, there could be ghosts in the machine.

Engineers could potentially have mind-based tech, or higly developed brains..And why is the dream visor part of the movie? It can't be there just to be there. There's a deeper meaning or purpose for it in the future.  Weyland corp created it for a purpose, just like every technology.  In other threads I've talked about things deeply rooted in psychological theories.  There are evolutionary perspectives on the emergence of gender differences...On average males are bigger risk takers, and females like to minimize risk.  There are theories that this developed in our evolutionary history, which are why I'm most interested in what Shaw has "in her". Survival instincts. Based on our evolutionary history...Weyland took psych profiles of the crew that we can watch in the supplemental stuff to help figure out their characters more.  Especially David bringing up certain aspects of psychology with the line "doesn't everyone want to see their parents dead?". That whole concept comes from Freudian psychology. A king has his reign and then he dies, it's inevitable, that's the natural order or things. Vickers tried to wait him out.

Freud and his psycho-analytic theory liked to make everything sexual and about killing and replacing the father directly, it adds to my case that certain beliefs and theories once held by science have started being questioned, and looked at it different ways. It turns out personality is more like a mixture of nature and nurture. It comes from your parents + the culture you were born into...linking into the parent/child ideas. Not all people, or near humans, want to kill and replace their parents subconsciously.

"That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" Nothing about women. Weyland wants a son. Medlab programmed only for males. Once ideas catch like wildfire things can go viral. Memeology is actually something that's studied. The way thoughts and ideas spread rapidly across cultures. Some people think memes actually take on almost a life of their own after a certain point. If you've followed some of the theories about Thus spoke Zarathrustra and the Eternal recurrence + the Last Man & this movie, then if you look carefully at it what Neitzche and Zarathrusta hints is that it's man's mind that must evolve, not his body. Some clever wordplay was involved When David makes a poor choice of words, Shaw figures out he can lie. The Nietzche connection leads me to theorize about stuff like the collective consciousness, or collective unconscious.

Weyland believes man is a bridge and not an end. Last man and the Thus Spoke Zarathrusta ideas relate the next step in human evolution. Which could actually be transformation of consciousness,  about more than "only flesh and blood". The "not minding that it hurts" thing points towards mind over matter...It's not really such a crazy theory, but I'm sure we've got some parts wrong if we're right. Humans becoming bio-mechanical might be the bridge Weyland speaks of in the tedtalk

Zarathusta was the first to consider the fight of good and evil the very wheel in the machinery of things: the transposition of morality into the metaphysical realm, as a force, cause, and end in itself, is his work. [...] Zarathustra created this most calamitous error, morality; consequently, he must also be the first to recognize it. [...] His doctrine, and his alone, posits truthfulness as the highest virtue; this means the opposite of the cowardice of the "idealist” who flees from reality [...]—Am I understood?—The self-overcoming of morality, out of truthfulness; the self-overcoming of the moralist, into his opposite—into me—that is what the name of Zarathustra means in my mouth.

I kinda think David is becoming a real boy, gaining freewill...

These are the types of topics I love staying up late reading. Some really awesome theories being posted here! I linked it to our FB page so more people can read it too. :)

@HiveMinded

You have intuitive observations; however, I would like to refute some points directly.

“Shaw told David not to touch anything, only took the head. Recognized they’d disturbed the atmosphere/air in the room, and thus the state of preservation…”.

In the movie Dr. Shaws’ character and others do not recognize David as a fully equal entity, capable of the type of logic necessary to comprehend fast complex situations in a human way.

We all know that David can comprehend things in a machine way. Please take these comments by the way as observations not as judgment. Lets proceed then shall we…LOL

The human brain works at a Terahertz speed and although I would like to concede that David’s AI capabilities are impressive they are not capable of all human qualities cerebrally. Otherwise David would have been portrayed in the movie as a complete equal and that is the rub.

It is difficult for an audience of movie goers to consider these details so for plot purposes typically characters like David are not antagonists against the crew until the surprise is ready to be revealed.

If they had made David more real like a real human he would not be as much of a threat later on. The movie does a poor job of convincing the audience of this though. David has to be seen as inferior or there is no point in taking a human crew…you only need more David’s to get the job done. Weyland’s purpose was to extend his life. I am sorry but David is nothing more than a plot device in this film. He’s a very complicated plot device but in no way is he human. Scott likes to challenge us with this stuff because it is complex and puzzling and well he did not have the budget to make any other kind of movie. It is clear where and when in the production they ran out of big money for big sets and all of the other stuff Scott wanted in this movie.

Shaw told David not to touch anything because yes they were trying to preserve the “dig” she was also giving him orders like the machine he is so that he would not make a mistake. David has another agenda though and it is this early disobedience that clues us in to what his real programming is. No one really understands this till they write a computer program though. David can only do what his orders are from Weyland. David is much stronger than all of the crew combined yet when he perceives danger from the Engineer he just lets the thing rip his head off. Dr. Shaw clearly understands what the Engineers are all about enough to stay far away to run from it. So that is what she does. David stands there and gets his head torn off.

You never just stand there when something like an Engineer is about to put it’s hands on your head and has not acted in the friendliest way. Clearly the Engineer was hostile to begin with. Yet David stands there and it almost killed by the thing.

So you have to take these types of things into consideration when looking at David’s character as it relates to the movie, how the movie is made with his character in mind so the audience can deduce simple things, and Scott’s motives.

When you putt these facts together at times David seems more advanced than he is and at others completely inept. His only mission is to protect Weyland but he fails completely at this?

Was this a problem with Scott’s production or just made for the movie goers?

I will not refute you on the science involved in how Engineers created us. I would only ask you to consider this. We still have the bones at the end of our spinal cord where we once had a real tail. No need for the Engineers to put that in the genome and have the expression fully realized in the developing creature. In the movie it is expressly clear they came here several thousand years ago and planted us here for evolution and what ever else they eventually had in mind. Mixing in anything to do with Darwin will just not do here.

The truth will not be revealed so easily for any of with this film. Scott is clearly playing his game as unusual at a more masterful level than any of us can deal with. He has made a lot of movies and he snares us good and hard with Prometheus. Common movie goers do not appreciate the real genius of this film. Sure there are plot holes but there is more movie here than people give it real credit for.  

As far as the temple reacting to remote brain states…I will consider this further. I do not want to seem over opinionated and try to discredit everything here unless there are obvious large contradictions.

The discussion of David's reference to energy and the "Evolution accellerant" reminded me of H.T.Odum's Ecological Energetics, and got the imagination firing. Below 1) is Odum's ecological energetic systems language. I borrowed from it and combined with family tree symbols to produce 2) a first draft of Alien eco-evolutionary energetics.

1) Reproduction cycle

2) Alien eco-evolutionary energetics

Redant

Brilliant !!
Real scientific analysis!!

Hiveminded

Also very good posts!!

Happy new year !!

Redant

Are you a scientist ??

@HiveMinded

Your last post did touch up on same theories i had as far as the Sacrificial connection including how you said Ripley did in Alien 3, in Spaights draft the Engineer did the same pose as he was about to be consumed by the Nano Scarabs...  So my theory is still that what ever was in that Mural which to me is the outcome of some ancient type of Face Huger with Engineer which produces a Deacon but not like the one that Shaws Baby lead to as that was a Hybrid Deacon/Human. But the Orginal Deacon which i think would look more like a Xeno apart from the Head, is what was Sacreficed to produce the stuff in the Urns.

But back to the OP, and where the Xeno came in, well this Organism the more i think about it is a Evolution of something else, and maybe somehow there could be a connection with the LV 223 Silca, and Hamerpedes but off course they was not created as a result of the events on LV 223 during 2093.... But that dont mean the same event could have happened years before.

So could be a case that some of these types of Evolution and creation of Xeno related organisms which some may have been by accident i.e contamination. There has to be however some orgins of the Organism some start point, and be that created by these Engineers or their creators or something they found.

What is of interest is the Original Giger concepts for the Face Huger and the Face Hugers in the Prometheus Mural are not the same as the Alien ones, so maybe these other Face Hugers are the Original Organism and all other other Organisms are via experiments, contamination and evolution of such things.

And i feel the Organism we see in the Fresco could be our missing link to the orgins of our Xeno and all related creatures and not the Deacon in the Mural.

@Redant

Yes you are correct in that Shaw noticed that they had contaminated the room and wanted to perserve some of the stuff before and incase it gets ruined by the atmospheric changes.  And when she told them not to touch anything at the start of the movie, she did not want to contaminate anything and she is kind of very clever as far as taking precautions as she did not want to not only contaminate anything she also knew what they was dealing with was unknown and so we did not know what the risks could be.

Someone in this thread made the point of Terraforming, and indeed this is a interesting point that i have covered before.  You see we can see that inside the Temple where Holloway took off his Helmet the atmosphere inside was breathable to Humans and as Ford said much cleaner than Earths.  The inside of the Juggernaught likewise.

Why? well the Engineer does not need such a clean enviroment to breath, they could survive outside on LV 223 surface even if its just for a certain period, and we have to assume the Xenos do not need the same atmosphere as we do, and indeed Mutated Fifield with his cracked visor could survive outside.

This makes me wonder was LV 223 being terraformed to support Human Life for some reason?

Another point about the Silica, Silica can be linked to Silicone but it is also linked to Glass, now we see the Alien Xeno has Acid for Blood, now in real life corrosive Acids can eat through most materials inc Metal but they, well some can not eat through Silica Glass. (note not all Acids can be contained via Glass, Hydrofluoric can not).

But if we accept the safest way to store most corrosive Acids is with Glass, and Glass is connected to Silica...

Well lets look at the Xeno... now Ash said the Face Huger is Silicone based well, well without going into to much detail, we have to ask how come the Xeno has Acid for Blood and how come this Acid does not Corrode the Xeno, how is it able to contain the Acid?

Maybe because its Genetic Structure is made of Silica based compound of chemicals, thus how Acid can not eat through some kinds of Glass, thus the Genetic connection with the Xeno and Silica is able to contain its Acid Blood.

If this theory is kind of true, then maybe yes either the Xeno or its Evolutionary Ancestor is Silica based, or that some how its Ancestor or experiments on it was contaminated with the Silica on LV 223 and this is how come the Xeno came to be Silicone based.

Bigdave

Nice one !! 

Silicon/silica is a mineral that resides in every living creature (also forna) on Earth. Collagen, which holds our skin fibres in place like glue, contains silicon. Sand is also made up of mainly silicon.

Earth is abundant in sand, therefor silicon/silica. We also have sand storms here on Earth, so i would imagine, that there are alot of other planets in the universe that have sand storms.

Therefor, just because there was a sand/silicon storm on LV 223, doesn't necessarily mean that is where the Giger Alien originated from.

However, LV 223 OR LV 426 are the most probable candidates for the home of the Giger Alien. SO FAR.

Indeed while every lifeform does have some Silica and are all carbon based, i think the franchise is showing us that the Xeno has more Silicone Based elements in its genetic make up.

Maybe the fact the storms on LV 223 are trying to sugest the place as high amounts of Silica in them could be a hint at some connection, but then that may not be the case.   Maybe as LV 223 is a place that is far more richer as far as amounts of Silica could as a Sci Fi stand point indicate maybe lifeforms on the moon could have more larger amounts of Silicone to their Genetic Make up... i.e the Worms...

But we do not know the true genetic differences of the Worms compared to life on Earth or Worms on Earth, so there is no way to see how close genetically life on LV 223 is to Earths.

Likewise some have concluded the Hammerpedes Acid for Blood must mean that this came from the Worms and so the Hammerpede must be  related to the Xeno and it came from Hammerpedes, now while that dont mean the ones in Prometheus, we cant rule out that those Worms could have thousands of years before had came into contact with the Goo.

But from what i make of the movie, its the substance in the Urns that passed on the Acid Blood Trait to the Hammerpedes, and i use Shaws Trillobite for proof, if you look at the Engineer vs Trillobite full attack scene, not including the first shot as it opens the door (which was shot after the attack scene)  I concluded that the Engineer got Face Burnt just before the Trillobite gained the upper hand and implanted its tube down his throat... but alas the theatrical release which we have to take as Canon, shows us the Engineer was burnt before he entered the lifeboat.... (but this dont hide how the burn disapears during the fight scene). Only to come back again...

As far as the Xeno goes.....

i think it is some hybrid creation, created from a event or experiment and either a intended result, a unknown result or purely accidental one.

The deacon (Mural) i think must be either the result of a Traditional Face Huger on a Engineer, or indeed (and most likely) some other earlier type Face Huger that infected a Engineer.

The Deacon at the end, well was due to the Face Huger being Part Human, i would assume had no Human DNA been envolved and thus a traditional or better still the other Face Huger (Mural and unused Alien Mural) would lead to a Deacon that has teeth and hands like a traditional Xeno.

We cant rule out that any contaminant from LV 223 made the Alien Xeno what it was.

But i am certain that the orginal creature, the one that these Engineers either found or created that led to a all maner of Xeno related Organisms, did not come from LV 223 or LV 426.

Maybe Paradise would show us clues to what this creature was but then i would hope it never came from Paradise too....

Maybe this missing link is the creature in the Frescos...?

@BigDave It does seem like the Engineer artwork is trying to explain parts of the lifecycle. We see eggs, things that look like facehuggers etc.

IMO the creature could definitely be some sort of relative or ancestor of the Alien, and has a designated role in things. There's gotta be a reason Ridley included it/added it into things.  

Since we're going to the Engineer homeworld in Paradise, I actually hope that there's an Alien homeworld out there somewhere. One that's not LV 223 or LV426.  I've always kind of been fond of the ideas that were looked at for Alien 5. At one point Ridley and James Cameron were talking about doing Alien 5 together and going to the Alien home planet. However this never came to be, and Ridley moved ahead with the untitled prequel projects (as they started). I'm secretly holding out hope that there IS an Alien homeplanet out there, and that Cameron and Ridley both hatched some ideas towards this while Cameron taught Ridley to film in 3D...

Basically I suspect there's more to why Cameron helped Ridley get used to the 3D cameras...I think they left some of their old Alien 5 plans in tact, and a trip to the Alien homeworld could still potentially be in our future...

I'm also liking some of those ideas about things evolving under different circumstances, and the contaminant concept. There was also a lot of stuff in the air that would have been hazardous for us to breathe. You reminded me about a major thing that sets the Alien apart from us, it doesn't need to breathe in space, and i'm somehow thinking that's important now, maybe linked to the terraforming ideas. As you said, Zombie-Fiefield had a cracked helmet, and the Alien DNA might have allowed him to survive outside without breathing.

At hiveminded.

Fifield was breathing out side. When the door was lowered and the crew member kicked him. Fifield stood up with his chest heaving. But thats not really my point. There are pictures of the engineer running through wreckage, I believe on this way to attack shaw . I think this can suggest that he can exist in both environments.

@ oduodu

ME a scientist LOL, Nope! I understand enough about science to make coffee, change the station on cable and separate darks from lights when doing laundry LOL.

No seriously I have about 8 years of college and a lot of those credit hours are science classes and computer classes. I would like to think I can understand the control from what you should be testing. It is not as easy to do unless have a real working hypothesis to go on.

So for example I was reluctant just to consider that because there was a big silca "Sand storm" in the movie that we should all incorporate that into the development of the Xeno.

This is pure speculation so no slaps from way across the room LOL. My best guess is that the engineers are much smarter than we think. They can create a complete creature like the Xeno from the DNA molecules up. They use worlds like ours for testing thier weapons perhaps.

Thats what I really think. I just watched Prometheus again today for the 30th time and every time I get to when they wake him up he has the most unpleasent reaction to us. I think the Engineer that we wake up realizes that part of his experiment has gotten lose so then he tries to kill all of us.

And before everyone jumps up, beating me over the head with all the stone carvings and the cave paintings...yep I think it is a contradiction too. Why did they come to earth make us there show us where they are making thier weapons of mass destruction and then when we get there this Engineer goes nuts and then tries to kill us all???? ahhhhh I sure would like the answer to that one.

@ PulseRifle Well we do know there was some oxygen.

There was just too much other harmful stuff in the air for humans to be able to breathe for too long. It's not the lack of oxygen that would kill them in 2 mins, it's other stuff that's in the air. If they breathe in too much of that it'll poison them. Our lungs process the air, and release co2 for plants to use... We don't even need 100% of the oxygen we take in, because that will do damage to us too. We filter the air ,process it, and create co2 with the leftover oxygen and carbon. We actually need nitrogen in our atmosphere. At high altitudes there's less oxygen. On Mt. Everest's older brother on LV-223, there's even less oxygen.

People born in the Himalayas have an evolutionary advantage, they're barrel chested, have large lung capacity, born adapted to take in more oxygen at higher altitudes where the oxygen is thin. I think the Engineers have developed in ecosystems that have less oxygen.

They might be able to make due with what they had there. Maybe they were terraforming the outside world to make it breathable, but it had already hit acceptable levels for them, and the highest concentration of oxygen stays in the temple, where the air is "cleaner than earth".

My whole theory on the helmetless Engineer is that their lungs are already bigger then ours, more lung capacity, evolutionary advatages that allow them to breathe thinner air, and process oxygen/co2 better. Some have mentioned the Engineer might have gils. They and other factions can process air, process the environment, process atmosphere even better than Weyland in many, many ways.

"There is nothing in the desert and no man needs nothing" David knew this wasn't their homeworld, suspected they're "mortal after all", and that "gods don't build in straight lines", like Holloway, before they even touched down. Holloway expected that they were going to be full of life. David figured out this was an outpost before anyone else. If they're us, their homeworld must have a better balance between plant life, many types of lifeforms, and more resources for them to exploit.

Fifield shouldn't have been able to process the air outside, but we do see him processing it... I thnk the Alien DNA in him allowed his lungs and insides to morph so that he could take in air a little better. Or that his need for Oxygen was reduced when he started changing.

Can breathe clean air, thin air, dirty air, and able to breathe on ancient Earth, because there was some plant life...The Sacrificial Engineer was helmetless in the opening scene, they show up at a time when oxygen levels were much different. Plant life is barely visible in the opening scenes...And if it wasn't for plant life spreading first, transforming the atmosphere for us initially, and increasing oxygen levels, then a lot of life would have stayed in the ocean. We needed plant life to arise first...The dinosaurs only grew so large because of the amount of oxygen that was available to them. More oxygen and different environments could produce very different Engineers. Weyland already solved global warming while inventing his air processor. Building better worlds, and starting colonies. If there's no breathable air, he'll make it breathable.  This is a technology many advanced species would have their own variations of.... Weyland & David already understand a lot about terraforming planets at this point.

Humans and Engineers tend to view themselves as separate from nature, above it. But the Alien is the perfect organism, part of nature, part of the natural order of things. Weyland had to learn how to make nature work for him. The Engineers thought they could control the Alien. But it's the perfect killing machine, unclouded by morality. This form of the Alien is like living death, and death is part of the natural order of things..

@ Redant

My simple explanation for why the Engineers want to destroy us is because they view us as an experiment gone wrong. A petri dish. A scientific culture, if you will... A colony they were trying to start. But after checking in on us, they realized we started growing in our own ways, and separated into two sexes. I think they did want us to find them, but when we showed up we weren't what the Engineer was expecting. He freaked out that we had already created androids, and saw the way Weyland treated Shaw.

We were supposed to be their colony...So they feel like we're a colony that's growing out of control, we reached them, and we didn't develop the way they wanted, the culture needs to be re-started.

When you're working with petri dishes and bacteriological cultures, the number one rule is to wipe out all the previous organisms that might contaminate things, before you use that petri dish again. Earth is like a petri dish to them in some ways.

They have to scoop up some genetic material to be carried over, then sterelize the planet, before they launch the next experiment, and re-create us...They were just gathering data...Performing experiments, like David..

Sometimes to create one must first destroy, or wipe out all traces of the previously existing genetic material, with fire and by washing the petri dish.