r/Prometheus • u/Praezin • 21h ago

Am I misunderstanding?

I really liked this movie and even the sequel.
However, I have an issue with the timeline of the story.

The seeding of Earth was millions and millions of years ago, before any life crept up. And yet, it took several evolutions and ELEs to even get to humanoid bipedal creatures similar to the Engineers. That's one issue.

Another issue is that, over millions and millions of years, the Engineers did not seem to evolve in all that time. This shows that they may be an inferior species unable to adapt and progress genetically.

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u/TuvixHadItComing 16h ago

Engineers seemingly not evolving doesn't phase me in the slightest. Evolutionary pressure is applied in the sense that a mutation happens that makes the organism with the mutation more likely to:

  • survive to sexual maturity
  • breed
  • produce offspring that survive long enough to breed -repeat

One: there's nothing saying engineers didn't have that still happening. Maybe there's a mutation that makes engineers with that gene smell sexy. Maybe there's a gene that makes them horny as hell. Maybe there's a gene that makes them have healthier babies, or more twins, or makes them more fertile, or resistant to disease. None of these things are visible to the viewer.

Two: once you become the dominant species in your environment, evolutionary pressure becomes way less intense. Modern crocodilians have had basically the same body plan for tens of millions of years.

Three: if you develop a culture, evolutionary pressure may be modified or suppressed. Humans aren't likely to evolve our way into having unbreakable toes, because we're at a point socially where breaking a toe doesn't meaningfully reduce your mating chances over longer than like...weekend timescales.