[azimaith]

Originally posted by Bum Burster
Indeed, but the way the things happened, nowhere could have the xenomorph known the existence of this system nor how to activate it.
When the xenomorph stroke the glass shield with its inner jaws, it took Gediman by surprise. He moved back. Gediman wasn't even menacing the creature by presenting his left hand above the red button.
After that, Gediman wanted to punish the creature.
He unlocked the system and pressed the red button by slowly bringing his hand above.
Then he activated the system, and then the xenomorph learnt the existence of that system and immediatly knew how to activate it. As far as we know, never had that system used on them before and never was its existence revealed.
No human not even a higher intelligence could have done better without knowing the basics.

Humans with a mature brain do learn that fast. Despite my prior assertion they are probably as smart as a human is, but they don't have the same qualities and flaws as a human does.

Because we practice it everyday.
Now I'd have to check on internet about these stories of people loosing their capacity to speak or even understand their native language because of a lack of practice.

Ive never heard of a case like that.

Anyway, as I said, Ripley 8 also remembered how to pilot. It's quite amusing by a time where ships are automatised and where crew spend their whole travel time in cryosleep. Not much pratice in perspective safe for departure and arrival.
One might wonder if these capacities weren't gained from another older memory infused into Ripley's DNA via the xenomorph lineage.

Remember spaceships were a mode of civilian transportation. 90% of the systems could have easily been automised making the spacecraft require the same amount of skill as a automatic transmission car.

Okay. Now, the theory is meant to work from the study of these sources, both films and novelisations.
Building arguments on the sole fact that you don't recognize these sources is unnaceptable considering the realm of sources we work from.
It's like we had a story based on the four films but you said you only acknowledged ALIEN and nothing else.
If you want to prove that the theory doesn't work, prove it from the same domain of study, not from a point of view which simply negates even the creation of the theory.

I don't need to prove it false, just not supported. There is no support for aliens gaining tech from breeding with hosts that have tech.

There are a couple of tools they could require. First, the capacity to find preys with more ease. The capacity for interplanetary travel. The capacity to capure preys faster without any risks.
I'm not saying they DO want them, because that, we don't know. But what I'm speaking about is tools which would enhance and ease their lives.
I'm citing only a few examples.
Taking a broad example. Why bother fighting squads of marines when you can drop a stunning bomb and harvest the incapacited bodies after that for zero casualties. See my point?

Like I said, I don't think they have the propensity for that. They never thought about mixing chemical X with chemical Y to make an explosive device, they never felt the need to because they are adequate on their own.

Source, because I'm sure there are several details that somehow are clearly left behind and know if the rat kept pressing the bar if there was no food left or pressed the bar repeatedly even if there had never been any food dropping. See, I live and know people who owned and still own rats since several years now, and they're certainly not that smart.

Just look up BF skinner on the web, hes very famous. By the way, in the experiments when rats pressed the bar and no food came out something called an extinction response occured, ie the rats stopped pressing the bars because they were not getting rewarded. Another experiment done by Watson has a similar set up except its negative reinforcement. A kid whose known as "little albert" was given a rabbit while Watson hid behind him behind a white sheet. When the kid grabbed the rabbit he smashed a hammer into a gong right behind the kids head scaring the crap out of him. The kid then associated rabbits with noise and fear he began to not only fear rabbits but things similar to rabbits. The alien associated the red button with pain, thus the alien knows red button pressing means pain by association. The thing that sets an adult alien apart from a baby here is that the alien utilized the same apparatus to inflict pain on another. Thats the spark of higher intelligence but its not above the human norm.

Well, the point that you still miss is that there had been no repetition and no test of the system from the alien side safe the unique moment the xenomorph decided to use the control system against the human.
About you say about chimps is speculative at best.

Speculation, you don't know there was no previous tests and I can't prove there was. It all comes down to personal opinion, I find the prospect that they grew 14 aliens and never tested any once until then.

So since aliens have patience, it makes them superior to chimps.

Since aliens are 7 feet tall, can beat down doors, kill and capture marines, and be patient they are superior to chimps. Who said they weren't.

Yes. A fact. Until you can prove it's not true.

Sorry, *not* a fact. Its an assumption that can't be proven either way.

That's rubbish. The alien calmly waited for a human to get inside. When the alien was sure that the human was in place, the alien slowly and steadily approached the trigger, knowing that the button was the onlyu piece to activate, to push, and nothing else.

It just pressed the button, all these adjectives you apply are completely unproveable.

That's wrong and flawed. Why not argue that the alien should have waited that an entire army entered the cell to activate the sprinklers? Because it's not necessary and just cherry on top of the cake, and a glaring attempt to undermine the quality of the xenomorph's action.

No, its stating that you can't possibly know the mental state of the xenomorph because you were not the alien there, you can only assume. Calculated and such all entails a great deal of preplanning, the alien just pressed the button. Adding all these ridiculously unprovable adjectives to make your point stronger doesn't mean anything.

The manoeuver, the way and the mean it was used for is calculated and meticulous.

Meticulous means close attention to detail, the alien pushed a giant red button. Calculating entails forethought and planning into the future. The alien saw the man in the cell and pressed the button. There is no indication of either.

I'm talking about actually activating the button more than once to see if it really works and if it's really that button which triggers the system.
The alien didn't do that. In case you'd start arguing the alien could have, without any evidence to support such a bold claim, notice the lack of slime before first use of the button by the alien.
That alone is enough to confirm and the alien never used the system before.

An child of average intelligence can do something without needing to test it first. Not testing an object before use does not mean they are incredible intelligent and certainly does not mean they are above human intelligence.

1. What structures?
2. Your point?

Just rambling, engrams are structures in the brain which form when memories are created. With a proper scan of them it might be possible to grow.

Ignoring the next because I personally find the novels to be steaming piles of crap in general.

Organic can also apply to machinery. Contrary to popular belief, organic life can also be made of metal.
But I see what you mean. Creating something from tools they already created, thus synthetic materials. Simple semantic misunderstanding.

As long as were clear.

Yes, or a queen laid them. But how is it relevant?

There were *lots* of eggs, thus indicating a large hive and a large number of hosts and aliens. Why doesn't the alien in the first film just build his own flamethrower and toast the humans or take control of the narcissus and fly it away if they have genetic memory from the obviously expansive derelict hive.

To put this short and to return to the original point. Theres no proof aliens can steal technical data from hosts. So far there has been 0 original alien technology over an existence long enough for a space jockey to fossilize. Not only do no aliens built their own tech, it also fails to open the doors in the leadworks when its life and prey were on the line. In Aliens the aliens who had previous experience with firearms never armed themselves with captive human arsenal even though considering their numbers security guards with training in these weapons had certainly been utilized. In short, there has never been any example of an alien arming itself with created or stolen weapons, armoring itself with stolen or created armor, tracking others through security cameras, and there has never been a verified instance of one opening a push button door. (You can speculate on ferro and burke but they are ambigous.)
Theres no proof, plain and simple.