In 2023 when Prometheus's Peter Weyland declares that 'we are the gods now', his Nietzchean statement will be met with the nervous fluttering of his audience.
Yet today, eleven years prior, entrepreneurs are already cultivating a Weyland-esque God Complex by investing in futuristic projects that aim to better the human condition.
The fictional TED talk (an innovative viral for Ridley Scott's Prometheus) introduces us to Peter Weyland, the man behind Weyland Industries, which appears elusively throughout the Alien series.
His talk explores the evolution of human technology, teasing us briefly with a mention of Prometheus (the titan who stole fire and gave it to the humans) before charting the technological evolution of mankind. From the gift of fire to the creation of cybernetic robots capable of human emulation in 2023.
Peter Weyland is a fictional (although brilliantly conceived) character and robotics have not yet progressed to Weyland Industry standard and yet from the moment that the serpent declared man could be like God in the Garden of Eden, humanity has attempted to prove its infallibility. So, we are taking a look at several 'real life' Peter Weylands...
Sir Richard Branson, having already conquered the skies with award-winning airline Virgin Atlantic, the self-made billionaire and business magnate is now expanding to space. His most recent venture is Virgin Galactic, a company that aims to launch passengers into sub orbital space where they will experience zero gravity flight. With tickets priced at 200,000 dollars per passenger and a waiting list of over 500 'future astronauts', Virgin Galactic promises to provide a once in a lifetime experience.
Elon Musk is the CEO of Space Exploration Technologies, or Space X, a private company that develops spacecrafts and rockets for the exploration of Space. Musk, a self made billionaire, has invested 100 million dollars of his own money into Space X. With a mission comparable to the airlines that transport thousands of passengers daily across the world, Elon Musk (in true Weyland style) aims to shuttle paying customers back and forth between Earth and Mars using reusable rockets with the long, long term aim of the colonization of Mars.
James Cameron, director, and Google bosses Larry Page and Eric Schmidt have teamed up to invest in Planetary Resources, a space mining company that aims to mine asteroids for valuable resources, such as water and rare metals, setting up space based fuel stations by the year 2020.
Warren Buffett - with a net worth of 44 million dollars, the second wealthiest man in America and third wealthiest man worldwide - is often referred to as the Oracle of Omaha and is one of the Times most influential people. Joining the renewable energy bandwagon, Buffet's company, Berkshire Hathaway, is now investing in energy produced by renewable resources such as solar, wind, geothermal and hydra, Buffet has reportedly invested 5.4 Billion towards wind generation and has purchased a Californian Solar Energy farm with the intentions of producing clean energy.
Prometheus is released today on Blu-Ray 3D Collector's Edition, Blu-Ray and DVD. Watch the trailer below...