Engineer Orthography

Definitely trying to imply 2 different races.

I've been really struggling with why an advanced species, who can create Life and travel between the stars, would communicate by crudely carving into stone, as if by hand - a practice we grew out of, what, 5000 years ago? These are an interstellar species. Of all the options they must have, they carve into stone? The lines aren't even neat, nor straight. What's going on?

i would imagine not much information about this would be revealed until after the film is released. it seems to me that if this film involves the idea of alien races visiting earths ancient people, then the writing systems would involve some elements of many of the more ancient systems of earth -to suggest that those systems came to us from these beings-or perhaps that they simply encounter those systems from interacting with us. it will be interesting to see exactly how this kind of thought is used in the film. hopefully eventually there will be documentary information available about the basis of the construction of these systems and how they relate to ancient earth cultures, but it would probably reveal too much about the secrets of the film if it were exposed now. im curious about wether they represent one species of creatures or several. it could be multiple systems used by the same "people, " but then again it might not. some parts of that first image do look a bit like cuneiform to me... i wonder if it contains a sort of hybrid of systems from other ancient cultures as well

@allinamberclad I don't follow you, we carve language into stone at our important institutions, political and religious - what's the difference? Maybe those carvings are historically significant to the Engineers and ancient even to them? No way of knowing until the big reveal, but I don't see it that unbelievable

Stone is permanent, especially if it's protected from the weather. Even most metal alloys corrode eventually, and there are better uses for the metal. Stone is a pretty good medium for preservation of a message, no matter how advanced you are as a species. Besides, how do you know it's really stone? Maybe it just LOOKS like stone, but is really some super advanced artificial stone. Who really knows?

It's all about longevity...as organic and Jim have stated...

[quote=DNA Crossover][i]It's all about longevity...as organic and Jim have stated...[/i][/quote] I have to agree with this. Data encoded with “high technology” is very prone to being lost because the the “reading platforms” break or are lost to history. [quote=jenskarlsson][i]i would imagine not much information about this would be revealed until after the film is released. it seems to me that if this film involves the idea of alien races visiting earths ancient people, then the writing systems would involve some elements of many of the more ancient systems of earth...[/i][/quote] This is my assumption as well, but I thought I’d ask. Ridley and the cast have been quite revealing about some facets of the film that most franchises would keep strictly under wraps.

One of the more fascinating topics on here, thankyou sukkal. I've been wondering about the stone/artificial stone thing too. Look at the mountainous sculpture with the head on top on the planet's surface. That really has my mind reeling - how would they 'fabricate' such a colossal artifact? Moreover, the explorers seem to walk under it through the huge gaps at the base - the whole mountain/temple seems to be on supporting struts. Mindblowing stuff to pore over.

@Jim100a100 I don't think I made myself clear: the difference is that, where we continue the practice, it's not done, generally, with the apparent crudity of a stone-age man. Even if its is , for stylistic purposes, or not, or whether the material is actually stone, or not - and leaving aside the obvious statement that it's a decision, from our perspective, based on a requirement for permanency - it's never ALL there is? I repeat, these are an interstellar race. I don't expect the answer to be rational, necessarily - in fact I don't, necessarily, expect an answer at all. I just find it peculiar.

I'm with allinamberclad on this one... An interstellar race would have the technology to preserve any such monument indefinitely. As a modern society we tend to avoid building things that last, it's not that we can't, it's simply just easier to maintain something cheap indefinitely and destroy it easily if need be. It's unlikely that the SJ even need such a temple when they have the capacity of storing everything about it right on their ship [b](which would last an eternity given their technology and if needed, maintenance)[/b].

I would give stone age man his props for finding a medium that can last through an extinction-level event, like making monuments out of stone. Anything else would be technology-based, and not last forever.

Why not build a monument out of diamond [b](which there is no short supply of if you're an interstellar race)[/b]? Or better yet why not build a monument out of self preserving self replicating nano machines? Why build a monument at all when you can simply store information a monument might otherwise have digitally which can easily be manipulated and multiplied?

@allinamberclad: i agree with you 100%, when i saw how almost crude the carvings looked, i was a bit disappointed i had envisioned the Engineer's text to be something truly otherworldly, completely foreign and intriguing, like some form of razor sharp / laser sharp micro linear configurations, tight / clean / precise rather than what could be in a natural history museum. but it is what it is, and perhaps when we all see the film as a whole, these crude looking glyphs may all make sense

I say it's all French, get "Frantz" to decipher it. [img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v234/LT.HIGHTIMES/1a1sherly.jpg[/img] [b]OR BETTER YET[/b] [img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v234/LT.HIGHTIMES/1A1cloey.jpg[/img]

@“StoneDoubters” Everything that relies on a fixed assembly of non-self-renewing/assembling matter in a set pattern to convey information is impermanent. Thermodynamics and entropy will take care of that. But, when we strive to “do the best we can” to have an artifact (or machine) survive for the long haul, we (humans) turn to certain metals and stone, [url=http://longnow.org/clock/][b]even now[/b][/url]. Even paper is more “reliable,” pragmatically speaking, than other media that are commonly in use in our modern world. Stone and metallic materials seem like they would be a cost-effective way for even an intelligence like the Engineers to [u]leave behind[/u] a message designed to endure for “the ages.”

@“StoneDoubters” Everything that relies on a fixed assembly of non-self-renewing/assembling matter in a set pattern to convey information is impermanent. Thermodynamics and entropy will take care of that. But, when we strive to “do the best we can” to have an artifact (or machine) survive for the long haul, we (humans) turn to certain metals and stone, [url=http://longnow.org/clock/][b]even now[/b][/url]. Even paper is more “reliable,” pragmatically speaking, than other media that are commonly in use in our modern world. Stone and metallic materials seem like they would be a cost-effective way for even an intelligence like the Engineers to [u]leave behind[/u] a message designed to endure for “the ages.” [quote=goodkat][i]Why build a monument at all when you can simply store information a monument might otherwise have digitally which can easily be manipulated and multiplied?[/i][/quote] Because if intelligences encounter it without an obvious marker (=“monument”) to recognize that it is, in fact, “information,” then it is very easy to overlook. Neolithic humans encountering a blu-ray might tie a string on it and hang it around their necks. Oh so pretty! That doesn’t mean they have access to the bonus material. ;•)

Yeah, why would they do primitive stone carvings when they could just as easily stored their sacred writings in targa files on 3.5" floppies like any other technologically advanced species would?

@takka_takka_takka Have I told you lately that you have really good taste in neckties? ;•)

Sukkal, TWO DEFINITE ALIEN RACES, the Promethians and the ??? Why would the crew do this, clearly hinting towards THE BLACK PHOENIX wars in next two films?