David, by definition.....is a psychopath.
Glenn R
MemberOvomorphMay 13, 2017Yes. He is the ultimate psychopath. What is a psychopath? Simply put, a person devoid of any empathy or emotional connection to another human being. Someone who puts their wants and needs before all others regardless of the hurt or damage it may cause.
While they are able to feel love and a deep bond towards certain individuals or groups, they will also compartmentalize their actions and be capable horribly cruel and inhuman behavior if it suits their own ends. They are totally indifferent to the suffering they cause...or even more frighteningly, some of them derive deep pleasure from the suffering they inflict.
The character of David poses an interesting moral question. Any replicant or artificial human that we may someday build would also be, by definition, psychopathic. They would not be human or desire to be one. They would feel no connection. They would not feel anything. Killing someone would present no moral dilemma. The value of any life can only be appreciated by someone who is themself mortal.
Peter Weyland even said it himself when referring to David. "He is unable to appreciate these gifts because that would require the one thing he will never have....a soul."
Prometheus and Alien Covenant are in fact cautionary tales on why we should never build a self aware machine. In fact cinema is full of films warning us of this. Blade Runner, Terminator, Dark Star, Metropolis, Ghost in the Machine, Matrix.....the list goes on.
