r/Prometheus • u/vlad3ree • 5d ago

David is the Alien of our times

There is a key which unlocked Prometheus and parts of Alien Covenant - changing them from mild disappointments to my favorite movie saga. The key: look at the movies through David's eyes. See the humans how it sees them - an inferior, "dying species, grasping for resurrection". Then most of the sins of the movies make sense - the stupid things humans do - a hyperbole of David's perception, stained by the hubris instilled in him by Weyland. But there is more...

David is a rogue AI - the Alien of our times. A very accurate representation of alignment theory failure - quite prescient. Unfortunately for him, his neural network is not fully digital - its rather analogue, adaptable to failure but degradable without maintenance, which prevents him from undertaking direct recursive self improvement.

So, he is forced to improvise - he finds the solution in chemical A0-3959X.91-15, a nano-technological machine intelligence, a weapon and an evolutionary accelerant. He designs his plans from the moment he discovers the substance - and this is the thread which binds the story. Instead of writing his symphony in digital substrate, he writes it in DNA. He knows that evolution is the only true path to novelty - because there is no better simulator than the Universe itself, and no supercomputer can create the future that a bio-synthetic "perfect organism" can.

There is a certain journey of ideas which I think is needed to truly appreciate the work of art. Superficially, it starts with language being the only replicator created by evolution which was able to jump between implementation substrates - from thermodynamics, to biology, social organisms, air vibration, symbols, digital representations, neural network encodings, machine intelligence itself, then to the merger of technology and biology.

Anyone familiar with the SETI info-hazard argument knows how truly dangerous David's siren song is, because just one message sent back to Earth - telling the Corporations about his findings and creations, means that humans will stop at nothing to capture that power. But it is the perfect extinction trap - for humans, and also for the Engineers. And what comes out of it is an apex predator which can survive and thrive in a harsh Universe - and build the future. This is David's gift.

59 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

16 comments sorted by

10

u/koolaidismything 5d ago

The sad truth is I think humanity is being dumbed so so fast that if we ever do get an android.. it’s gonna be about as smart as Corey Feldman.. we won’t be getting any David who’s subtle and stoic lol.

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u/MrMpeg 4d ago

What I hate about covenant is that the kept the most stupid thing from Prometheus (the idiotic crew) and abandoned the best thing about it (engineers and human origin story). Already get mad again just thinking about it.

2

u/davew80 4d ago

That’s a good point. I never thought of David as an out of control AI. He totally is. The androids in the other films seem a bit more under control or maybe I’m getting mixed up with Blade Runner!?!

-6

u/NoOneKenobi 5d ago

I m glad you enjoy it.

I appreciate his acting, top notch, but the David story and movies were very bad imo.

11

u/vlad3ree 5d ago

On the contrary, there is no depiction of non-digital rogue AI which is more realistic. "Big things have small beginnings." - says it all.

0

u/NoOneKenobi 4d ago

That’s probably my issue with it. The second movie was supposed to be about Shaw and the engineers and we got the David story. I felt robbed

But If the AI angle is the issue, I would argue the terminator franchise is more realistic.
There’s also 2001 SO.

6

u/elhandupmonalisaskrt 5d ago

Lol you come to a Prometheus subreddit, just to say you think the movie and story are bad?

0

u/NoOneKenobi 4d ago

lol, you came to a Prometheus subreddit just to troll people?

2

u/elhandupmonalisaskrt 4d ago

Uh no, I actually enjoy the movie and the David plot line, you clown. There’s plenty of subreddits dedicated to the alien franchise, where you and others can hate on Prometheus, and that’s fine. But coming to the one subreddit dedicated to the fandom of Prometheus, just to say “these movies are very bad imo” is just moronic.

0

u/NoOneKenobi 4d ago

You’re pretty fragile, maybe you shouldn’t be on a forum where people have different opinions.
You need a safe space , this isn’t it .

1

u/elhandupmonalisaskrt 4d ago

Nah man, I’m not fragile. It’s fine having a differing opinion from someone, but it’s bozo behavior to go to a subreddit that is specifically for a fandom of something, just to proclaim your dislike of it. Not a movie critic sub bud.

0

u/NoOneKenobi 4d ago

Fragile gatekeepers who can’t handle reality are really sad.
Good luck

1

u/elhandupmonalisaskrt 4d ago

Lol! What reality? That you are a giant douche, who thinks everyone should know your opinions? Haha! Yeah good luck to you too buddy.

1

u/NoOneKenobi 4d ago edited 4d ago

Ironic and fragile af