Is it fair to call Peter Weyland selfish for wanting more life?

"Is it fair to call Peter Weyland selfish for wanting more life?" No. But: "Is it fair to call Peter Weyland selfish for wanting more life on the expense of other peoples safety and their own lives?" Yes "hes done so much for humanity, all the technological advances, expanding the horizons, colonizing nearby planets. Hes worthy enough to be given more life" So did Hitler [to the Nazis], would you like him to live forever?

I think this is an interesting question. To want to live beyond the span God/Nature has alloted - if you have the means and the opportunity - might well be a natural and understandable desire, not [i]necessarily[/i] to be judged negatively - [i]if[/i] it comes as no expense to others....but that doesn't make it wise - and I don't know if it can be anything else but selfish. Also, you speak of literal immortality? The selfishness can only be magnified. Using your context, Weyland may well have done a lot for Humanity - but if any person was to claim their motivation in extending their own life to immortality was for the benefit of Humanity, not for themselves, I'd be starting to question it, under any circumstances: when that person is someone like Weyland I'd not be inclined to believe a single word of it. It might well be a way for a person like him to rationalize his vanity or the consequences of the action to himself and the public, but, "No Sale", as far as I'm concerned. I'd almost rather he said anything at all, no matter how extreme and narcissistic, before, "My immortality will be for the good of Humanity.." - that, to me, is a slightly terrifying mindset to start from...

in my opinion, it's all about the attitude. let's do some mental experiment, and imagine this: "yep, i'm a guinea pig, but i think, this experiment will serve others". versus: "they can make us live eternally, well, not about you, just about me". see the difference? :-D

Weyland is ultimately self serving. I agree with David 1's Hitler example. What he's done in the film is probably only the tip of the iceberg. Just look at what he's done to his daughter. He did not even hesitate when he was informed of the tragedies and impending doom. The guy is scum. He used a human as a guinea pig that ended in death... He didn't flinch! "You don't see them f&@$% each other over for a g**d*mn percentage!" -Ripley

@Sentinel. exactly. and @D1, too. the ultimate selfishness. and i mean - the ultimate - by the way, some of my friends were talking, you know, "the most profound scientific expedition in terms of humanity and these all pseudo-scientists...what a crap of Scotty". and i said:" what the f..k about the most profound...etc - it's just an expedition for one ego-tripping old man with wealth and with fear to die, the rest are guinea pigs". :)

@MishaPL LOL :) I think the movie is biased in a way against corporations as a little propaganda for your mind but yeah, how could you miss the evil? The one thing I thought was amusing in Alien 4 was that things were turned around and it was the government beauracracy that was in control. It turned from "Mother" in Alien to "Father" in Alien 4. They were in effect saying, "government can be just as evil if not more so than corporations" Btw, I find it interesting that David called Vickers "mum" which may be just a subservient British term but it makes me think, did Vickers evolve into the A.I. "Mother" directly or indirectly? I would not be surprised if Vickers was not dead.

The idea of wanting and making trade-offs for immortality has [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fountain_of_Youth]been around a very long time[/url] and appears to be somewhat universal. There is always a price to pay, however, for an *extension*. Just ask a vampire or [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portrait_of_Dorian_Gray]Dorian Gray[/url] or anyone on dialysis. Trust me, the Last Engineer was not happy about Weyland asking for more life (= [i]gwhivah-pyorn-îttham[/i]) either. I believe that we may find (if [i]Paradise[/i] is ever made) that the Engineers themselves pay a HEAVY price for having *extended* existences. I do not believe that as corporeal creatures they can be truly immortal. Entropic decay will eventually catch up with the [u]technology[/u] that keeps them alive for very long periods of time, no matter what that technology is. Their *bodies* cannot live eternally. The truly interesting questions are, "What do they [u]choose to believe[/u] about their *souls*?" And, "How much of that is *faith* vs. *technology*?"

@Sentinel - as long as we don't see Vicky's dead in Promey, and having Linda Lost on board, I'm pretty sure, that Vicky is a replicant and she spawns some sort of SmokeMonster... selfFACEPALM! no, just kidding. but, after all, I'm also on the side that Vicky is not dead. I'm a pretty straighforward guy - seen her dead? no. so let's wait for Paradise, or let's write better scenario oursleves.

Why would anyone want to live forever? I think it'd be boring after awhile...........

What's that saying: "Live for today, as though you' ll die tomorrow but Live for tomorrow as though you will live for ever." Selfish not to want to be with the creator? Waylands view was that his creation did not have a soul but he himself was envious of his creation... in comparison to the engineers, his request to seek immortality was perhaps considered selfish, arrogant and foolish especially seeing that humans are probably just breed for bursting xeno's. While engineers are just gardeners working for a more malevolent beast of grand cybernetic proportions/dimensions. [img]http://th03.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/i/2011/197/b/c/cthulu_rising_by_tarrzan-d3woasm.jpg[/img]

I accept this with open arms and then I plan to sell it for a great price. Now me and the super rich are immortal, the rest are just disposable worker ants. After that, when I find something much better than the immortality, then the prices go down. btw cool pic @Ruhaniya ;)

If you ask me, Yes he was selfish. Peter W. should just have died in the natural way of life because I don't like his attitude in the first glance like the smooth talk to Shaw "Let's go. What would Charlie do? I think he would go". Yuck.

The best argument I know for an immortal life is the existence of a man who deserves one.- William James (1842-1910) American philosopher and psychologist.