The Engineers did not start life on Earth

Or it could be part of the simulation. We choose odd scenearios in simulation, no matter how foolish they sound. Like living life in simulation? http://www.simulation-argument.com/simulation.html

Simulations are incredibly important. If the simulation is advanced enough and can account for all possible variables, then it is almost a world within in a box.

I absolutely love that idea patch, I also think it's highly probable that an extraterrestrial species may have 'modified/manipulated' early life on Earth to culminate in 'us'. Bet they regret it now!!! LOL By the way that kitty avatar is so cute I want to cuddle it! :-D

"..seeding a habitable planet .." From what I recall of the opening scenes nothing..except the water.. indicated supporting life as we now know it. It is curious that the Sacrifial Engineer(and crew) were not interested in mining the planet (as Weyland Corp . was doing throughout the known Universe) but to experiment... Hmm does that mean they didn't need natural elements from our planet?. JUst how many Sacrificial Engineers are there on the Saucer shaped space ship? There could have been many more life searching 'simulations' not seen in this spaceship's mission.

"..seeding a habitable planet .." From what I recall of the opening scenes nothing..except the water.. indicated supporting life as we now know it. It is curious that the Sacrifial Engineer(and crew) were not interested in mining the planet (as Weyland Corp . was doing throughout the known Universe) but to experiment... Hmm does that mean they didn't need natural elements from our planet?. JUst how many Sacrificial Engineers are there on the Saucer shaped space ship? There could have been many more life searching 'simulations' not seen in this spaceship's mission.

I'm not sure I understand: yes, it would be foolish to determine that a planet can support Life without knowing that it can - but who would do that? It would be foolish, [i]unless[/i] you can remove the doubt and either [i]know[/i] it will, in advance, or [i]ensure[/i] that it can, in the future, support the Life you require it to support - [which, if you are able to manipulate Life in the first place, you might well be able to do]. Otherwise, yes: you'd just be standing around for an aeon with no guarantee that anything would ever happen - but, with that, on what possible basis would you choose a planet to go and stand on; in your cloak; and wait - for, potentially, nothing?... It doesn't sound like the behaviour of a Race with sense enough to have the capabilities we're imagining. I'd say, if they go there for the purpose at all, then they either already have the understanding that it will support the Life they intend it to support, or they have the capability to make absolutely certain that it will - otherwise their behaviour is irrational. On that: who's to say that initiating a focal Species out of biological soup wouldn't be anything more than Stage 2, of a 3, or 5-stage process...where Stage 1 was that, "making certain": creating or delivering the biological soup-base and letting it simmer there, for a while?

Life is a curious thing, not only is it a extension of nature but also a force that is driven from Macro Cosmic origins to the molecular and possibly beyond. Life is an expression of organized energy and programming, a ultra-complex mechanism that extends the reaches of cosmic intent and chance. @The Lone Gunwoman Thanks for your comments and it is very curious, in fact when they noted man's aggressive behavior why did they let it progress? @Indy John, I think maybe and this is just my take on this: as in all experiments, controlled conditions must be imposed to limit the number of variables in experiment, and thus mining would have changed the way man would advanced (industrial age, Bronze age, Etc.).

@allinamberclad I think you might have missed a word that would have helped in your comment. "Branch" on the evolutionary tree is one that has it's common origins with all life but diverts to a more specialized life form. Earth over a period of millions of years has seen many many changes in climate, land mass, and also forces from outside (asteroids, solar radiation, etc). I would have waited for conditions to become stable and conducive to my life forms ultimate goal in evolutionary terms (wait for the dinosaurs to become less of a factor for example).

"....experiments, controlled conditions must be imposed to limit the number of variables in experiment, .." Your note got me to thinking about the Weyland Corp. and their Terra forming activities,seemingly quite successful.. I wonder what their criteria is for selecting a planet,,in a distant part of the universe..to do the Terra forming activities. The Engineers seemed to be much more advanced than the human counterparts. Still you sort of wonder what profile they use....and how far afield were they willing to travel to keep the Creators( I still think they are inn the storyline somewhere..somehow) satisfied that all is being done..that needs to be..

When selecting a planet or planetoid for Terraforming, I would imagine the profit vs terraforming cost would be one of the first to raise it's ugly head. Mining and exploitation of the natural resources is always key to any human endeavor... LOL according to the Weyland Industries mission statement. Yes the Engineers are more advanced, and yet not following up after 2000 years to check on the "Earth Project" seems down right silly and irresponsible.

What I don't get is if they wanted us dead, why didn't they do it one of the times they were visiting?

@Space-Jockey Excellent point! Granted they did try 2000 years ago, but no one checked on their progress... LOL

If the Engineers were checking on the human progerss(say every 2000 years) then the development from 2000bce and 0CE..they were n jot too impressed or worried.. Then when checking in say 2000 CE(after all there has to some explanation for UFOs) they might have been shocked..and worried to see humans not only escaping the planet's atmosphere..but looking into areas close to the Engineers' home. And that started the Engineers' mission to destroy all humans.

@patch jonesy; Waiting to be Excused. "Branch"?.. I didn't miss it, but it doesn't seem to help, at all - that has nothing to do with the part of what you said I was referring to? Never mind.

The Engineer's maybe whizzes when it comes to space flight, weapons of mass destruction... but they sure forgot about communications, project management, and clinical research and containment (LV-223 - a bio-weapons facility that went toxic and killed all but one of the Engineers). If what triggered the decision to reset (kill and destroy) humanity was due to their violent behavior, why did they not make adjustments along the way? If they were not capable of such a critical process, then they gamble everytime they initiate a new life seeding. You know what they say, "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing."

@allinamberclad, time is always against you and in that determining a viable environment would take a long time (exactly your point and a very good one); but we our selves send probes to our nearby planets, who is to say that the Engineers are not doing the same. At the same time, they build up a database of all suitable and in progress planets. When one becomes viable for their needs then they seed. I seem to recall the Engineers having FTL, and with that this idea of database management would become a reality. You never put all your eggs in one basket, diversity and spreading chance is the only way to achieve results when all variables are considered. In respect to the certainty principle (nothing is an absolute and especially in nature), and so the Engineers would have a set criteria that must be met to attain their desired goals.

Even with our own primitive technology, there are a lot more effective ways to kill a species like homo sapien, than to bring that goo to us. In terms of their technology, they could have annihilated us with something much more final. The goo is a means to an end; not our ending.