Invite us to their planet then kill us?

@Spartacus no, it was earlier then the AMC report of 2 huge corps fighting each other. the thing I am thinking of dates from nov 2011 or so. I am gonna go play in search of.

@Spartacus [i]BY the way just so I am clear about how out of left field I know even my own theories can be/ are....[/i] We should arrange a forum trip to watch the movie, I bet we are all wrong with our theories :-)

I never said anything about a trap. In fact, I don't believe in that idea at all. I'm not even sold on the idea that it's any kind of message from the engineers at all. One possibility I'm thinking of is that it's like that scene from Close Encounters where Richard Dreyfuss character is compelled to make a sculpture of the mountain where the aliens will touch down. The star configuration could be something that's shared, in grained subconsciously, across cultures.

"@artyoh...this is pure speculation....."We know the result of their meddling: a technological civilization capable of spacefaring". We don't know ANYTHING for sure....the point of an alien race 'meddling' in our affairs is for the Jockies and Ridley to know at this point.......You;re making an assumption with no evidenciary support. Sure, I gave my opinion, but I don't KNOW.....no one does..NO ONE....." Of course I know nothing as an established [i]fact[/i]. I'm simply arguing logic. If spacefaring capability wan't either a direct or indirect result of their meddling and they didn't want us to find them, their predictive capabilites are highly questionable.

I wouldn't say it's a trap either, not from the SJ's point of view, maybe from ours though, remember its all about perspective - their measure of moral and ethics is going to be alien to us.

The problem I have with this "The star configuration could be something that's shared, in grained subconsciously, across cultures" Biehn_Bandit is it is exactly what you said...VERY Close Encounters....TOO much so in fact........While I DON'T KNOW what the point of the star map is acutually as NONE of us does, my hope is that whatever's going on is as original and unique as it can be, because I get the sense that Ridley is going for exactly that; an original take on human - alien contact that none of us is prepared to imagine beforehand,,,,,

"predictive capabilites are highly questionable"...again, an assumption artyoh...part of understanding the dynamic of human - alien contact is that we can NEVER assume motive, thought process, intent or purpose...the defintion of what is alien concerns something unkowable and that is crux of all of this...the why isn't even within our graps yet and, if things go as I hope they do, will NEVER fully be there for us to figure out....and that's what's terrifying about this prospect of contact..

"I bet we are all wrong with our theories :-)" Man LV, I hope you're right, bro. I wanna be blown away!:DD

@craigamore The thing is, I don't think Ridley Scott is THAT original or creative, not any more at least. I've said elsewhere on this site, Scott is formidable in most aspects of filmmaking, but a genius writer and story conceiver he is not. Neither is Lindelof, in my opinion. Then why the hell do I want to see this movie? Imagery, atmosphere, monsters, basically. There will be cliches and well worn story beats though. I'm extremely skeptical that ANY filmmaker can come up with something that's not similar to something else that has already been done, or come up with something that we can't imagine. And I only use CE3K as the closest example I can think of. In that film we are dealing with the compulsion of one man, not a compulsion shared across cultures and time that leads to discovery and then action put in motion by discovery. I haven't watched or read every bit of sci-fi ever made, but I think the idea of shared human subconscious imagery is original enough, especially among Hollywood tentpole films.

@craigamore This is rational. The intention just cannot have been, "warning" - it makes no sense, at all. Even to a modern human, the nature of those images shows a clear implication as we are programmed for the symbolism of imagery: of all the possible interpretations - "warning", is not one. Presumably the higher intelligence that either instructed or prompted the humans that created these images, (presumably by their own hand), would have appreciated they were at least intelligent enough to understand the most basic, and very clear, implication contained in them: [i]"I, (who is, or was among you - and who is [i]not[/i] you), came from: there"..[/i] All the rest of it and the purpose of making that clear association and embedding it in human consciousness is debatable but, to me, your interpretation perfectly stands reason. I’d only raise my hand as follows: While it may be worth keeping in mind that at least several of the human societies that created these images, by their own hand, were actually quite sophisticated – (they weren't grunting proto-apes: they had developed language and social structure. They must to have done, or there would not have been much point in communicating with them) - they were not Spacefairing, so yes: perhaps the development of that level of intelligence and technology was a surprise. However, I find it very hard to imagine that, where Intelligence already exists, the possibility and expectation of continued development of that Intelligence would have been beyond the anticipation of the Species we are discussing: that may have been meddling in our development for millennia? Also “Worship”, usually denotes a lot more pomp and permanency? Where are the huge temples? Where are the huge raised stones? Where are the rituals, documented and embedded in our History?.. Instead, we have some cave graffiti. That had to be “uncovered”. Uncovered at a Time that seems to have co-incided, somewhat, with our ability to actually go to the places on the graffiti. Bit of a co-incidence these things weren’t discovered 100, 200, 300, 400 years ago, no?….We would have been just as able to understand the simple associations of the images at that time… But we wouldn’t have been able to actually get there. Strange.

@craigamore AFAIK, there's no universal requirement for aliens to behave logically, but there [i]is[/i] a requirement for consistency of internal logic within a story for it to remain coherent for a decidedly human audience.

Whose to say some of these artefacts featuring the depiction star system weren't discovered beforehand, but the similarity between them was never noticed. Very often when ancient artefacts are found they are stored away for years, sometimes decades at a time.

@Snorkelbottom Agreed and accepted.

Agreed allinamberclad...but I wouldn't say there's no way they wouldn't have anticpated man becoming a spacefaring race...I'm saying we shouldn't ASSUME that concept... As to the sudden discovery of all of these artifacts...I'm not leaning towards that literally...I would think it's more likely that that many, not all, of these arifacts were discovered over the centuries of human archeological research...I think it probably is more of a situation of Shaw and Holloway picking up on the connection and ultimately finding that last cave image... where humans appear to be worshipping larger beings.... [img]http://www5.picturepush.com/photo/a/7867998/img/prometheus/caveenhance.png[/img] ....that becomes a moment where everything falls into place for them and they seek funding or some financial backer that becomes Weyland.......

@artyoh...."internal logic within a story for it to remain coherent for a decidedly human audience". That internal logic, still, does not have to be coherent in regards to the intentions of a race we would not know or understnad, comprehend....that's the WHOLE point...That concept is in and of it self internally logical given that the subject of the story is alien and unknowlable... ...internal logic is necessary and it is ENTIRELY internally logical that our characters and the audience WOULD NOT FATHOM the intent of a race like the Jockies and there's no reason to believe we HAVE to or NEED to have answers to said questions and the ASSUMPTIONS we have...

@craigamore Totally agreed, (we should not assume), and accepted. Still, I've been wondering about the odd disassociation of them from the rest of our History: each culture feels they were important and present enough to record so permanently - and then just [i]nothing?[/i]..... This film really is a puzzle, at every turn.

Their specific reasons for interfering in our development is irrelevant to my point. Being totally surprised by direct or ancillary results of that interference, [i]is[/i] relevant. I mean Jeez, the large central figure in that cave-painting you just posted, is pointing directly at the star cluster. If that doesn't indicate deliberate intent, what would? So, thousands of years ago, they somehow conveyed to a number of different human cultures, exactly where they came from. Thousands of years later, we show up and OMG! they never saw that one coming? Sorry, I'm just not buying that........but perhaps I'm a bit too married to simple logic.

We're playing those mind games together Pushing the barriers, planting seeds Playing the mind guerrilla Chanting the mantra, peace on earth We all been playing those mind games forever Some kinda druid dudes lifting the veil Doing the mind guerrilla Some call it magic, the search for the grail Love is the answer and you know that for sure Love is a flower, you got to let it, you got to let it grow So keep on playing those mind games together Faith in the future, outta the now You just can't beat on those mind guerrillas Absolute elsewhere in the stones of your mind Yeah we're playing those mind games forever Projecting our images in space and in time Yes is the answer and you know that for sure Yes is surrender, you got to let it, you got to let it go So keep on playing those mind games together Doing the ritual dance in the sun Millions of mind guerrillas Putting their soul power to the karmic wheel Keep on playing those mind games forever Raising the spirit of peace and love Love... (I want you to make love, not war, I know you've heard it before) ~John Lennon !

agreed allinamberclad....quite a puzzle....it might be that the knowledge of man's [i]benefactors[/i] was lost as easily from man's collective knowledge as the means to build all of those fantastic monuments like the pyramids in Egypt and South America....there's a perfection to some of those structures and a neatness with which multi-ton blocks fit together that we still have difficulty understanding because the knowledge just slipt from man's memory over the millenia.....it might be that simple....

@artyoh...."Thousands of years later, we show up and OMG! they never saw that one coming? Sorry, I'm just not buying that"....if you actually read my posts, you'd notice that I said thiis "I wouldn't say there's no way they wouldn't have anticpated man becoming a spacefaring race...I'm saying we shouldn't ASSUME that concept." which is exactly what you're doing...assuming. As to this...."I mean Jeez, the large central figure in that cave-painting you just posted, is pointing directly at the star cluster. If that doesn't indicate deliberate intent, what would?"....as I said, it could be as simple as "this is where we are from", indicated by the being pointing to it...simple.... You continue to leap to assumtions as Shaw does in seeing a figure pointing at a cluster of stars believing it's an invitation...it's a figure pointing; as in, this is important, where we are from important.....come to visit us impoirtant?...there's not enough there to make that conclusion....