Are Engineers really immortal

I agree. But some will say the engineer hid in the sleep chamber to escape whatever was hunting and chasing them. Why he hid there for 2 thousand is anyone's guess.

Just add it to the list of things of that don't make sense! lol I think he was hoping they would have some kind of technology or DNA altering device that would undo his ageing.

@facebugger If only we had known. My wife uses Oil of Olay to undo her ageing. I could have sent some along.

@gchristnsn ?.... I don't know....perhaps this is all wandering, slightly.... I may not have been clear: I am suggesting to you that there is actually no physical immortality of the Engineers, here? I am saying this because we observe that the Engineers actually are mortal? From that position, I am struggling to understand how you can hold that an, "immortality" - (that does not seem to exist) - can then be the basis for all of this business here you say about the strategies for interstellar expansion and whatnot?.. I don't see how their, "immortailty", can be the basis for anything - because it doesn't seem, to me, that they are actually immortal. [i]"Yes they of course were only physically immortal.."[/i]? But, no. You see, this is what I am suggesting to you - no: it does not seem that they were? As far as I have understood, the Engineers physically and permanently died - and I recall seeing one suffering an actual, physical and permanent death? It seems, to me, that, he who dies in this manner, is, by definition, mortal. I would say it then follows, directly, as a consequence, that he who is mortal, cannot then be [u]im[/u]mortal - as that would be a contradiction: if he were immortal, he wouldn't be dead? As a product of all this, I am suggesting to you that the Engineers cannot have been immortal as, if they were, they'd be alive.

It could be that the Engineers are Biologically Immortal, and Godlike.

If they are truly "immortal" then a 2,000-year nap is not really a big deal. They are probably bored to death.

If they use cryo chambers sleep then they can not be biologically immortal IMHO ...

Maybe the use them because they wanna skip the 2 thousand year waiting? XD

I think weyland just thought they had all the answers as they pre dated us and had our DNA - obviously superior by a long way to us! I always imagine engineers as living for thousands of years and elders as millions maybe billions and this god like being mentioned by ridley as the immortal one...

@rabernathi, Yeah but the point is that this engineer not in a normal standby, after all the rest of his companions are dead, and another motivation is that he must preserve his life to fulfill the mission that so far has been postponed. On the other hand it is possible that they can live for long, but I doubt that they are immortal. I believe that immortality is a term too big for a body that also has a similar DNA to ours. for example if I want to make a trip to the other end of the galaxy, that can take me a long time and I can only live to be 100 years old (or even less than that :p) then it would be more logical to use hyper sleep chambers to not grow old and die before reaching my destination (ok, maybe their ships are very fast but still there is no evidence that they are immortal).

Posted Jul-24-2012 5:49 PM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "I think weyland just thought they had all the answers as they pre dated us and had our DNA - obviously superior by a long way to us!" The above portion of crabfart's post is the answer to the OP's question. They may or may not be immortal, but hypersleep chambers or no hypersleep chambers, its totally understandable why Weyland would think that they could at least offer (if they were so inclined) some sort of possibility of the extension of human life. I mean, some alien standing before him that presumably created him may not have the answers to his query (or just may not want to give them to him), but its about the best bet a filthy rich megalomaniac has at extending his life. makes sense to me.

No one remembers the Elder Engineer from the cut scenes at the beginning? Obviously they age, maybe not as fast as we do, but ten bucks says they aren't immortal.

@joeyjoe Exactly. Weyland would probably have been done with any thoughts that they were immortal the second he got news of all the dried-out stiffs littering the Corpse Stop - and also The Strange Case of the Exploding Pickled Head...but he was already there by that stage, what was he to do, just go home? He may well have thought, "Well one is alive, let's ask him - maybe he has an immortal friend. Or maybe he has a clue about some kind of other thing I can actually use. I blew a trillion dollars on this gig - now I'm awake somebody, somewhere, had better tell me something...[i]anything[/i]..."

Totally agree Cypher, Why an immortal can age? That makes no sense to me.

When Shaw blows up the Engineer head, David replies: "Mortal after all." And I'm not sure if Weyland either said he wanted to be immortal or he just wanted more life, which would be a big difference. But anyway I agree, "just add it to the list of things that don't make sense!"

doesnt make sense?? In the context of a fictional sci-fi movie, weyland's intentions make perfect sense. The film NEVER intimated that the engineers were immortal and NEVER intimated that weyland was literally seeking immortality (not that the megalomaniac inside of him would turn it down should he find it). Weyland was, by any means attainable, seeking to extend his life. Like allinamberclad said...Weyland was already on LV 223. it had become clear that the engineers were likely the creators of humanity and were exponentially more advanced than humans (in every possible way). Sure they were mortal. Doesnt change the fact that it makes complete sense for weyland to think that there might be some chance of these beings being able to somehow extend his life.

They're definitely immortal as head found in the sanctuary suggests and the reason in the strategy of the spread of the species. Engineers spread biodiversity (which implies existence of technological and non-technological life), people spread themselves (spread of technological life will lead to the exhaust of potentially habitable worlds). So the rational reason to kill Weyland after he asked for immortality is potential exhaust of the habitable worlds made by immortal pragmatic technological beings.

@gchristnsn [i]"They're definitely immortal as head found in the sanctuary suggests..."[/i]. ..?..... But, how do you get to this place?... The head was [i]dead?[/i] The body to which it belonged was also dead. Even if all the remaining Engineers were still alive, it wouldn't be enough to answer the question that fact alone would raise, but, as it happens, most of them are also in a state of perfect death - and the one who isn't, is being kept alive inside a machine, required to preserve Life. So, the query remains: How, then, can they possibly be described as, "immortal"?

>How, then, can they possibly be described as, "immortal"? It's possible to say, that it was functionally alive. The engineer's personality may be dead, but the body has not decayed. There may be a false link with the liquid. It may be the reason of the immortality (it's actually impossible to conclude this from the movie facts), but the probability of this is very low, because only immortality and humanism implies such a strategy of expansion, when an immortal being sacrifices himself to create new species (in a contrary, humans, not being immortal, wish to obtain immortality and expand themselves).

maybe we are immortal - sprit lives on - gah I hated just typing that so impossible to answer...

@gchristnsn OK, I don't fully understand what it is you're suggesting? The head and the Engineer it belonged to may well have been, "functionally alive", but the fact that is now [i]not[/i] functionally alive and in another state, and the fact that you accept the distinction between those states, is the issue. Unfortunately, I think the distinction between its former state of being, "functionally alive", and its current state, lies in the fact that its current state is what is termed as, "Dead". The fact that it is now dead and, therefore, was capable of having the experiencing of Death, means that it obviously cannot ever have been - and, evidently, cannot presently be, "immortal". Something being dead and, "not having decayed", is not the same as it being immortal - it is just dead and not decayed. By that token, a tasty fish now awaiting attention in a freezer is, "immortal", when, obviously, it isn't - and it never was. "False links with the liquid", "humanism", and, "expansion" don't seem, to me, to have much to do with anything in this context... The Engineer is, plainly, [i]physically[/i] dead - therefore he cannot be physically, "immortal", as, if he were physically immortal, he wouldn't be physically dead, he would be physically alive. From what I understood, it was support of [i]physical[/i] life that Weyland was interested in? From that perspective, he would have been able to form no other sensible conclusion than the Engineers are [i]not[/i] physically immortal - because they [i]aren't[/i] - and he couldn't possibly have, "assumed", anything else - and all of this, is by way of answer to the OP's actual question? The OP's question was about Weyland maintaining a certain belief, (regarding the Engineers), in the context of physical immortality - I only say that he could not have maintained that believe, if held. If he did ever previously hold the belief that the Engineers were physically immortal, it was obvious from what he was presented with that they were [i]not[/i], in fact, physically immortal - but one was still physically alive, and physically there, so the whole gig wasn't a complete washout - and he could go and physically ask him, physically something - physically. Other than that, whether Engineers are immortal of soul or not, cannot have been very likely to have had any value in Weyland's immediate frame of discussion and pursuits. I doubt he would have cared or based his initial actions or reactions in reference to that speculation - and the the question doesn't arise, anyhow. If that were the case, and if one Engineer had [i]not[/i] remained alive and they had [i]all[/i] been physically dead, Weyland may still gone down there and waved his bony arms in the air, or something - trying to reach out to their immortal souls to ask them all about his crippled back, but I doubt that....although it might have been a slightly more interesting scene.

[b]allinamberclad[/b] Immortality was Weyland's wish from the beginning and he hoped that the engineers could provide it to him as creators (but why they should do this?). I think, that the concept of immortality is necessary here to base the strategies of the interstellar expansion of the species (creation vs terraforming and direct expansion) and outline motivations of mortal and immortal beings (strategy of the progenitors may be explained only by the facts that they are immortal and they understand that they will exhaust potentially habitable universe if they would expand directly). Yes they of course were only physically immortal and most likely could exist without decay for eternity until something kill them, or they would be gods in the literal sense. The basis of life is energy (the personality may be related to the quantum state of the structures of brain and will perish when energy supply is turned off) and basis for energy is system which could supply it, so you can functionally kill such a being destroying its critical systems, but if he has mechanisms against decay in his cells and tissues of his body it will not decay for eternity. But nothing of this except simple concept of immortality have meaning for the plot.

Im struggling with gchristnsn's point/logic as well (not being a smart ass at all. just completely lost). Having said that, +1 for allinamberclad. Well put.

[b]allinamberclad[/b] Just imagine beings who breed but not die (but could be killed). I don't see what could not be understood here, because this is the essence of the notion of immortality. People are breed but die, and if they would be immortal, they will exhaust all potentially habitable universe. It's actually very interesting question, because nature have mechanisms against overpouplation - aggression and wars, and the strategy of progenitors (whose body don't decay and suggests that they don't die) suggests that they consciously deal against such mechanisms (their behavior may be a result of their religion).

I see what he means - it could be that the engineers can go on living forever IF left unharmed and so in a sense they are immortal in one perspective of the word. But if they are harmed they can die - I think this is what he means yes? But the chances of never being harmed in all of infinite time would be a bit slim! This is all depending on the universe being around for ever of course which if it isn't nothing can be immortal in our universe that lives possibly - this is all way beyond our knowledge lol - no point :P ... Perhaps you should leave it as "the engineers live forever if unharmed" my god I just realised how bored I must be to have typed that out :O ...

@gchristnsn ?!...... But that is not the, "essence of immortality", at all? In fact, it seems to have no relation to it? "Beings who breed but not die (but could be killed)", are, clearly, [i]not,[/i] "immortal" - and there, actually, I would have thought, is the end to it? You might wish they were, but, [i]actually,[/i] they [i]aren't[/i] - as they [i]cannot[/i] be - and you cannot change the actual meaning of a word to suit your wish, as the word and its actual meaning got there first. I don't think it's uncommon to find that a word doesn't exactly suit purposes, but, with so many of them available, I'm certain there are much more satisfying ways to resolve that dilemma? At risk of repetition: the Engineers: are [u]dead[/u] - and they are shown to be prone to Death? Personally, I really would have thought this simple and plain fact should answer any and every query regarding their, "immortality" - but, if not: have it your way...

Im immortal by the way...ok so lets say maybe the engineers can live forever if unharmed - the end! Who gives a s**t lol!

There's nothing to prove or disprove their lifespan either way in the film Purely speculative for now

Well they are not immortal, nether are Vampires for that matter ;) We dont know the life expectancy of a Engineer, but looking at the Elders they appear to be aged so maybe this is a sign Engineers age or that the Engineers were created by the Elders in their image. So it would be safe to assume their race live much longer than Humans, it would also appear as though they do not have females and are not vast in numbers. Again just because we see no evidence of that does not mean that the Homeworld has Billions of Engineers and the females out number the man 6-1. We just dont know so a Engineers natural life expectancy could be what 200 years to 200'000 years we just dont know.