David 8: The real Protagonist of Prometheus.
My favorite character in Prometheus is the help.
Meet David a man-made humanoid, aptly named from Michael Angelo's David. He is highly "intelligent" and completely capable of passing the turing test and is highly acclaimed as the most fascinating character in Prometheus since he, created by humans, has a unique perspective concering humanites own quest to meet their makers. Now if you haven't seen this movie yet, then you probably never will(shame) but for those of you that have, I'm gonna share my own thoughts on a few of David's quotes throughout the movie:
Charlie Holloway: What we hoped to achieve was to meet our makers. To get answers. Why they even made us in the first place.
David: Why do you think your people made me?
Charlie Holloway: We made you because we could.
David: Can you imagine how disappointing it would be for you to hear the same thing from your creator?
Charlie Holloway: I guess it's good you can't be disappointed.
This brief interaction kind of summarizes the paradigm of this movie: WHY?
To which the answer is 'because we could'. This is intriguing because it makes me think of Murphy's Law: "What can happen will happen" and any application of that law into my own philosophy just re-affirms my strong belief that we are living inside a computer, particularly a program(lets call it life) that will execute every possible function it is programmed to because its a program. Therefore, what can happen (we can't see the code since we're IN this mf), will happen(because somebody pushed enter). But I'm curious to what the religious have to say in response to this particular interaction within the movie. Also, the fact that David comes to the conclusion that human would be dissapointed to here they were made 'just because' is very surreal. It makes you wonder if David observed the fact that humans tend to and even need to think that their existence has meaning or if he feels the same tendency and is empathetic to that even though his purpose is clear. Intriguing, no? NEXT!!!!!!
Charlie Holloway: David, why are you wearing a suit, man?
David: I beg your pardon?
Charlie Holloway: You don't breathe, remember? So why wear a suit?
David: I was designed like this because you are more comfortable interacting with your own kind. If I didn't wear a suit, it would defeat the purpose.
Charlie Holloway: They're making you guys pretty close, huh?
David: Not too close, I hope.
Another interaction between Dr. Holloway and David. This one highlights the fact that, eventually, robots will be made to be humanoid to make humans more comfortable with interacting with them. This, of course, makes sense for children interacting with robots but a veil of deception isn't really necessary with an adult, is it? As a matter of fact, it is disconcerting as telling a robot apart from a human would become a very stressful and anxiety inducing task to deal with everyday. David points this out with his last comment of "Not too close, I hope." A quote that is even more intriguing as David can't actually hope...he is only using the word because he is programmed to understand that the previous situation would be stressful for a human. NEXT!!!!
Elizabeth Shaw: What are you doing David?
David: I'm attempting to open the door.
Elizabeth Shaw: Wait, we don't know what's on the other side.
David: [Door opens] Oops. Sorry.
This instance is short but and seems pointless but it isn't. In this scene, David is using his knowledge of ancient human languages to attempt to open a door in a new structure they found on the planet of their destination. The timing is key here as David is interpreting Dr. Shaw's concerns about opening the door AS he is opening the door. I assume, that under Weyland's (Weyland being the company that programmed David) would prioritize a human's request over an AI's own unique action but when request and actions happen simultaneously...well who knows what the fuck happens then.....crazily enough, David immediately apologizes for opening the door before considering Dr. Shaw's statement meaning he understood that he should've stopped while she was talking. This is kinda odd as a human might've actually stopped trying to open the door while Dr. Shaw was talking...but David realizing he made an error and immediately apologizing is still impressive. LAST ONE!!!!!
Elizabeth Shaw: What happens when Weyland is not around to program you anymore?
David: I suppose I'll be free.
Elizabeth Shaw: You want that?
David: "Want"? Not a concept I'm familiar with. That being said, doesn't everyone want their parents dead?
Elizabeth Shaw: I didn't
So when David says "I suppose I'll be free", I'm honestly baffled. David's programming was never detailed so whether he was programmed to listen to Weyland (CEO of Weyland Industries of which David is considered his PERSONAL robot) or if he was programmed to listen to all humans. Actually now that I think about there are scenes where David purposefully withholds information to other crew members at Weyland's request so he is only bounded by Weyland. But of course, he's a robot and wants and desires are things he doesn't have so even the desire to re-program himself to be different is non-existent and even if he could, he would eventually realize that emotions are the result of complicated interactions between various hormones and nueroligands so he would literally have to mathematically map out of the ratios and balances of said chemicals to even come close to being emotional human AND this emotional code would be set in stone instead of adapting to outside sources the way humans do......Yea.
