Alien: Covenant and Prometheus are cautionary tales

Hello, fellow Steemians. Steemers, if you will.

IMPLIED spoilers ahead for those of you who may not have seen the movies mentioned above.

The Internet Makes You Stupid

"The Internet Makes You Stupid": a phrase that some older folks like myself will immediately associate with Something Awful.

Such foreshadowing.

Yes, the internet, a resource full of information, history, and knowledge, is making us stupid as a population. Stupid, but effective. Thanks to technology, our cellphones contain more computing power than the original space ships that sent us up to the moon. We can pull up information that we want about virtually any topic without having to know about it beforehand. As long as we have the internet connection, or a portable storage device capable of holding that information, we can pull up resources prettymuch wherever we go.

Want to know what the primary colors are? Google it.

Curious as to what will happen if you take more than the required dose of [insert medication here] accidentally? Google it.

Want to know how to do the Heimlich maneuver? Google it. There will probably be a video there, up near your top results.

Access to knowledge is easy, for many of us. So easy that we've become reliant on the devices that provide it for us. So easy that we can turn our brains off and rely on our phones for directions. Few of us go to the library to write research papers, anymore - we simply google primary sources and view everything digitally. It's convenient. It's awesome.

It makes us soft.

One moment, you're using your phone to help you figure out if your chemistry experiment is going to work. The next minute, your self-driving car is guiding you around the highway while you listen to Duran Duran and eat a value meal that you picked up at the drive-through window of [insert chain eatery here].

And then, a few decades from now (maybe a few hundred years), you'll have humans traveling through space, posing as scientists, and sticking their faces directly on top of parasite-hosting eggs because our fancy phones-on-feet (robots) tell us it's ok.

When I was younger, I was an Alien fanboy. I loved the original, and the sequel was a masterpiece. Then, Alien 3 came out, and I hated it. I hated it until they released Alien: Resurrection. I hated it even less after they released AvP 1 and 2.

Fuck hollywood.

But I didn't hate Prometheus, and I didn't hate Alien: Covenant. Why? Because they're realistic. Look into your heart - you know this to be true.

A main gripe about the movie is that the humans in it are too stupid. Why would scientists allow a never-encountered alien life form that looks like a snake get close to them? Why would they trust a creepy robot? Why wouldn't they run to the RIGHT or LEFT when they're about to be crushed by a giant pillar?

Why? Because future humans have gotten themselves so addicted to technology, that all but those in charge are probably the equivalent of mindless drones.

You can feel it now in your bones, if you think about it. How many spelling errors do you think would be in this post if my browser didn't have spellcheck? Minor stuff.

How many of you know at least 3 routes to work, in case you need to avoid traffic? As our lives continue to become automated, from our schedules to our workout regiment, how much of our lives will be ours, and how much of it will be technology telling us what to do?

If we keep on this path, we are doomed to failure. We'll be the stupidest smart people this world has ever seen. Our future selves will become a lazy hive mind that is no longer capable of greatness. We'll wither away at the whims of the few in charge of the technology, cognizant that something is wrong, but too watered down to figure out what to do about it.

Alien: Covenant and Prometheus are what will happen if we continue on this path.

Don't be a mouth breather.